Tory Yokomoto
by LunaticSavage
Summary: Tory is betrayed by the Government, now a fugitive. Injured in his escape, he's rescued by the last people he'd expect: the Whitebeard Pirates. Now, shedding his old life and into another, he becomes a pirate. And a son of Whitebeard. Being rewritten.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1, Tory  
><strong>I sat down on a crate in the alley next to where my fight had taken place. I had just taken out the Nightmare pirates, but thing is, they had 200 freaking people! And of course I had easily defeated them, though now I was exhausted. Who wouldn't? Being a bounty-hunter may seem cool and all, but once your name got on the paper, there wasn't much time for a break. This didn't help my mood at all, and neither did the horrible tasting fruit I had just eaten a few hours ago, before I took on this crew. The guy I bought it from looked a bit shady, and I expected the fruit to actually taste good as he had promised, but hey, it didn't kill me.

Now I had to calculate how much I would be getting from any bounties in this crew, and then send in the photos to get my money, and _then_ send these guys to the nearest prison. Meaning I had to find a camera and haul all 200 of these guys to jail, and being in the _freaking _hot country of Alabasta wasn't going to help at all! I mean, it must be 100 _FREAKING_ degrees, probably more. Why did this _FREAKING_ pirate crew have so many _FREAKING_ crew mates! And why did I have to _FREAKING_ fight them! Well, I am a bounty hunter and they _did_ start it…But why in _FREAKING_ Alabasta!

"Oh well, better get started then," I said to myself, not noticing the sudden change and completely unreasonable change in my mood. My mood changed back to totally pissed as I turned around, sensing something with my slightly developed sixth sense. Unfortunately, I hadn't sensed the object, which turned out to be a dart, in time to stop it from imbedding itself in my neck. Again, unfortunately the dart was full of tranquilizer, rather strong, and my body started to go limp. I fell off the crate onto my side, which, unfortunately once again, wasn't the side that led to the busy street. If I had I could be seen and maybe given help, but no, I fell on the other side, hidden from view by the very crate I had sat on.

Now where had the dart come from? My vision blurred, and my eyelids started to get heavy. The sound of footsteps came from deeper in the alley, and slowly I turned my gaze towards that direction. Coming my way was two men in Marine uniforms. One seemed familiar, but I couldn't tell who it was since I couldn't see clearly at the moment. They kneeled on either side of me, and I noticed both held an array of restraining devices. With them, they, as expected, restrained me even though I was on the brink of unconsciousness.

"Sorry about this, kid. But I gotta follow orders. Maybe you can prove your loyalty in court, if the higher-ups let you get that far with your life." he told me. Then everything faded to black.

When I woke up, I couldn't see a freaking thing because they had blindfolded me while I had been unconscious. They had also wrapped me in enough chains to wrap five huge tree trunks together! At least, I think it could. Big sis would be able to tell with a single glance. Strangely, I felt slightly weakened at the moment, but that was probably due to the tranquilizer, though my shoulder seemed to be affected the most.

I wriggled around a bit, seeing if there was a way I could get the chains off. In the process I banged my head against something metal behind me. While I cursed silently, as there was a cloth keeping me from speaking, I finally figured out where I was. I was in a cell, and by the rocking of the floor, on a ship. And after seeing those uniforms, I was on a Marine ship, which meant I had gotten what was threatening to come recently: I was captured because I was starting to get rebellious and the World Government was afraid I might rebel.

Well, if I did, it'd be quite a problem for them since I've been earning a name among the top bounty hunters. That was a pretty big thing, if you were in the Grand Line. But they're just being paranoid, even if I didn't like some of the things the Government and the Marines did; I wouldn't up and become a pirate or something! Not after what they did to my island…At least, I probably wouldn't.

I flinched as I heard footsteps coming my way, once again banging my head on what I supposed were metal bars again, and I went into another fit of cursing. I didn't flinch just because someone was coming my way; it was because the rhythm was vaguely familiar. _Thump thump tap, thump thump tap_, 1, 2, I counted, waiting and listening to see if he was who I though he was. The strangers identity was confirmed when I heard a loud _crash_, followed by a lot of swearing which bested even me.

This man had to be my Uncle Derry. Or it could be some crazy Marine I met once on my travels. Nearly gutted my eyes out when he thought I tried to murder him. But I only tripped and fell into him, for goodness sakes! I heard scuffling as the man who was either my uncle or a madman got up and walked on until he stopped outside of my cell.

"You had ta go an' show off, didn't ya', Toto?" he asked. His voice was gruff and deep, but yet…calming.

"Uncale Darwee, if thath yow?" I asked, my words muffled, once again, by the cloth around my mouth.

"You bet it is, you weak excuse for a nephew of mine," he said sharply, and I winced. Truth be told, I didn't really like him very much. Though I don't really have much to go on, except for this argument I unintentionally eavesdropped on. And this pirate attack that still haunts me, but rarely. The memory suddenly came back to me, as clear as if it had happened yesterday.

_ "Let Tory come live with me! He'll be safer an' better cared for at Marineford," _I heard Uncle Derry shout. I had come downstairs for a cup of water, but heard my uncle and parents shouting in the kitchen. Derry had come for a visit, as soon as he had heard what my sister had done. Only he had come, say, only a few years after. That was because he had some important mission dealing with the Whitebeard Pirates.

The water all but forgotten, I peeked through the hole in the door where a doorknob should've been. Dad was seated at our old kitchen table, head down and pinching the bridge of his nose. Mother was standing behind his chair, patting his back and glaring at my uncle.

"Do you really think we'll just give up our child, our _remaining_ child?" Mother asked my uncle.

"Lucy-," Father began, but Mother cut him off.

"What, Robert?" she shouted at him.

"Maybe this is for the best. We barely have enough to support ourselves. How are we going to keep on supporting Tory?" he said softly, keeping his natural cool. Yet still, his voice was a bit shaky.

"Ya husband's right, Lucy, listen to him. At this rate ya' won't be able to keep this house! Ya' know what, why don't all of ya' come? Tory won't be separated from ya' two, and I'm sure ya' can find a better job with a much larger pay," Uncle Derry suggested.

"How about it, Hon'?" Father said Mother. Mother looked as if she would never give in, and then sighed deeply.

"Fine Robert, we'll tell Tory in the morning," she said. I smiled, filled with excitement, and went back up the stairs. The next morning, none of us ever made it to the ship. My parents didn't even make it with their lives. I couldn't stand to remember what had happened that fateful day.

"Ya' really got yourself into a tight spot, haven't ya'? I'm not expecting an answer from ya' since ya' got that gag an' all. Anyway, I know ya' are smart enough ta figure why ya' are here," he paused a moment to sigh, which he did rather much, from what I remember, "knowing ya', ya' probably actually was going to rebel, wasn't ya, Toto?" Uncle Derry asked me, and, like he expected, I didn't answer. But actually he was right. I had been planning to become a pirate or join the Revolutionary Army after I had collected enough funds. Though I kind of forgot why…Oh well, it should come back to me sometime.

"Now it's up ta me to fix up the mess, like I always had to with my sister, or rather, _your_ mother. Wonderful woman she was. Ya' are a lot like her, ya know, Toto. Anyway, better check up on the men, gotta make sure they ain't smoking in the bomb storage. Ya'll be heading to Enies Lobby, _if_ things go smoothly," and with that, he left. But not before slipping something small under one of my chains which I had no _freaking_ idea was. Thus leaving me along with my slowly dulling headache and my thoughts on what he had just said.

Now, why bother telling me about his men and the bomb room? Could just be small talk, as I _am_ his nephew an' all. That exact moment the ship exploded, and I felt a sharp pain near my hip, and everywhere else.

"_Oh, so he wanted me to escape,_" I thought before blacking out.

Upon waking up, it took a moment for me to gather my wits. First, I felt the pain, now worse, in my hip. Second, I realized most of my chains were either missing or broken, but I was still in too much pain to move. Third, I slowly looked around and found myself floating on a piece of wood, slightly burned, and my lower half in the ocean. Wreckage surrounded the waters around me, all that remained of the ship after the explosion.

Something bumped into my makeshift raft, and I gagged a little, as it was a corpse. I gagged even more as I realized it was Derry. Floating lifelessly on his back, his handsome face had a rather satisfied expression. His uniform was torn and burnt in many places, his bluish hair, identical to mine, had ash in it, mostly washed away. Horrified by his decision, I kicked his body away. I clenched my teeth, as my thoughtless action caused great amounts of pain.

I didn't know how long I had been floating there. It was a miracle I wasn't attacked by a Sea King. The gods must hate me or something, though, as not a single freaking vessel had even come into view, nonetheless _near_ me. Well, I couldn't really back that up, as I hadn't bothered to turn actually look. But it seemed I had spoken too soon, as maybe 15 – 20 minutes later, the shadow of a _freaking_ huge ship covered me and the surrounding waters.

"Hey guys, I think there's someone alive down there!" I heard somebody on board call.

"Well, haul em' up, then," someone answered.

"You do it, Marco, I can't swim," the first person retorted.

"I can't either," was shot back.

"But you can fly," the other pointed out. Wait huge ship, _Marco_, and flying! Slowly I put one and one together and…OH MY FREAKING GOD! The Whitebeard Pirates! No, this could not be happening to me, oh why oh why does it have to be me! Then again, what am I worrying about? They don't kill senselessly, and a bunch of islands are under their protection. Further insurance was given at the thought that I'll probably be given a bounty, but if not, I could be in for some trouble.

I glanced out of the corner of my eye, and saw the well-known flames of 'Marco the Phoenix', First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. I could feel the wind generated by the flapping of his wings. He picked me up actually quite carefully with his, er, _birds feet_, though I almost blacked out. I think I actually did for a moment when he dropped me _not_ so carefully on the deck. For one thing, the next time I opened my eyes, what I saw was _definitely_ the sky.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2, Tory**

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a room I had never seen before. I didn't panic, as I had learned long ago, that panicking never helped. Well, actually, I did spaz out once in awhile, just a little nervous breakdown. Then again, I shouldn't look at this so positively. Eh, who's going to know? Then again, _again_, there are some people who know things nobody knew they knew. They might even know those people know they know they know he knows. Okay, that made absolutely no sense. Well, after all the scraps I had gotten into over my years, it was possible I may not be perfectly sane. Now I sounded old, like, forty or something. And I'm 18 years old!

I couldn't really move much. I felt a lot better than before I passed out, but I was still exhausted. How long had I been out? Slowly, I sat up, and my hand shot to my shoulder as excruciating pain shot through it. I fell back into a lying position, and the pain dimmed, so I brought my hand back away from my shoulder and to my side.

I looked around more thoroughly, though slowly, and found I was hooked up to several machines, including one that connected to a breathing mask over my nose and mouth. How the freaking heck did I not notice that? And who changed my clothes? Wow, at least these pirates patched me up and didn't kill me. Wait. I'M ON THE FREAKING SHIP OF THE FREAKING WHITEBEARD PIRATES! WHAT THE FREAKING HECK! I'M GOING TO FREAKING DIE LATER ANYWAY!

Oh, well, whatever, anything could happen, and I actually did have a pretty good chance of survival. WAIT, WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING? I AM GOING TO DIE! I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! Just then the door opened, and a nurse in a rather revealing uniform, too much for my tastes, followed by a very tall and very skinny doctor. He hit the top of the doorframe with his head, hunched over, and muttered a string of curses, though I could best him. Immediately I faked sleeping, something I had mastered quite well, considering the number of times I had fallen asleep when I was younger.

Their steps grew in volume as they neared my bed. Apparently the nurse really thought I was asleep, as she didn't tell me to call off the act or anything while she pulled up the sheets. I remember once when I tried that on my swordsmanship teacher, dang, he did _quite _the number on me. Spanked me so hard I couldn't sit for a week. Just for trying to trick him! Course, apparently the _doctor_ didn't fall for it.

"HEY! I KNOW YOU'RE NOT ASLEEP, SO STOP FAKING IT!" he yelled. Immediately I sat up, my ears ringing and eyes wide.

"YOU SHOULDN'T YELL EVEN IF SOMEONE PRETENDING TO BE ASLEEP!" I yelled back just as loudly, so he almost backed off, but only almost. Next he karate-chopped me in the head so I nearly fainted and a thin stream of blood came spurting out of my head.

"Really, Kanto, don't be so rough!" the nurse said. She looked very young, with shiny black hair, pale blue eyes, and a perfect complexion. But I had long learned not to judge people by their looks. Last time I failed to remember that I nearly lost an arm and my virginity. The nurse proceeded to wrap a bandage around my head, which made my headache worse (how did I not notice my headache before?).

The doctor, on the other hand, seemed rather elderly, somewhere in his early thirties, which I considered ancient. This 'Kanto' had a shock of bright red hair, and skin so dark you probably wouldn't see him if he stood in front of a tree with his eyes close. His eyes would probably give him away; as they were such an intense shade of green I glanced away from their vivid color. Why did I glance away? Well because he was getting ALL UP IN MY FACE and looking at me SO CURIOUSLY THAT IT WAS UNCOMFORTABLE FOR MY TASTES!

"DO YOU MIND!" I shrieked at him. Kanto didn't even flinch, just mumbled something intelligible, and began a whispered conversation with the nurse. I didn't even need to guess what the topic was. Okay, he really was ticking me off. I'm going to kill him; I'll rip his throat out, and his heart for good measure, wow I'm thinking weirdly, but first rip his eyes out, these sheets are soft, see how he likes that, and why not cut off a limb or two, why is the sky blue, BRAIN OVERLOAD!

I think I screamed that last part, because as I clutched my head, Kanto and the nurse both looked at me worryingly. Yeah, I have got to stop screaming out loud without intending to, wow I think I'm really insane, well maybe not that much, wow everything's starting to get blurry. Then I passed out.

"WAKE UP, YOU LAZY EYESORE!" Kanto screamed in my face as he shook me back and forth. What did I do in return to being screamed into the face? Duh, my instincts kicked in and I kicked him in the gut. Which turned out to be a bad idea as his gut was as hard as a rock. At least he let go, since he made my shoulder hurt worse for a moment. On the other hand, my foot hurt like hell, and I clutched it, glaring daggers at the not-too-gentle-doctor.

"Since it seems you're well enough to move around, how about you introduce yourself to Pops and the others?" the nurse suggested sheepishly.

"I'm not going to be killed, burned at the stake, hanged. Or anything like that, will I?" I asked warily. You can never be too cautious on a pirate ship.

"Err, no…" she replied back with an eyebrow raised. Well, that was enough of a guarantee. I was about to get up, but apparently I was too slow for Kanto. He sighed impatiently and simply hoisted me over his shoulder.

"What the, LET ME GO, you darn, um, Mud face!" and continued to curse him with every swear word I knew, along with some weird jinxes I picked up that probably didn't work one bit. Okay that was pretty childish, but instead of feeling immature I was filled with fear. Why? Well, if you looked at Kanto' face then you'll know. Looks like I shouldn't have called him that.

"You brat!" he hissed with gritted teeth and slammed me full force onto the ground. Thus, I fainted for the second time that day. When I woke up _again_, I found myself in the same bed, same room, and same ship. Thank whatever higher power looking down upon me that I have not yet died by murder or blood loss.

"Rise and shine, boy, you've had enough rest. It's time to meet the crew," Kanto said, startling me as I was sure I had been alone. If I managed to get away with my life, I was going to have to watch out for this guy. But, I was going to have to watch my tongue, for now at least. The nurse wasn't here, so nobody could stop this insane doctor from killing me. Not that she was much help earlier, but any assurance of not sustaining injuries, I would gladly accept.

"Hurry up, will you boy?" Kanto nagged me halfway out the door. How did he move so fast? I sighed, and hauled myself up and straight towards my doom.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Thatch introduced me to all the commanders and basically everyone onboard excluding him, Ace, Mary-Ann, and Whitebeard. My shoulder was sore from Thatch pulling me all over the ship. By the time we finished it was really late, so we decided to call it a night.

As he left I turned around and realized something: I didn't know where I was supposed to sleep. I turned back to ask Thatch but he had disappeared. I thought about it for a moment when Mary-Ann came up to me and solved my dilemma.

"Come with me please, Tory." I followed her, remembering how I did the same earlier today, only on much different circumstances. Was it really just today? We stopped in front of a room different from the one I woke up in, where I thought she was leading me. "The bed you were staying in belonged to a member of the crew that was traveling looking for a certain person. He'd left a month ago so we put you in his bed since it was vacant. But he finally found them at Water 7. So since that's the next island we're going to, we're going to pick him up. So you're going to sleep here." She opened the door and we walked in. The room had several bunk beds lining the walls. Several were already occupied. "You'll be sleeping in the one in the far left corner. See the one with the stack of clothes?" she asked. I nodded in reply. "Some guys gave you clothes that don't fit them anymore. Although I don't know if they'll fit you, though, because we have some pretty buff guys, no offense." She added quickly.

"None taken." I assured her. She smiled at my response.

"You're in charge of washing your own clothes. Showers are to the right, sixth door on your right. You can take off your bandages now. I got to go check on Pops." with that she hurried out of the room. I stared after her for moment. Then I walked to my bed to pick out some clothes, but changed my mind and decided these clothes could last the night. After going to the shower room and disposing of my bandages, I put the hand-me-downs in my half of the chest at the foot of the bed, as every bunk bed had an identical one. It was night outside the window as I crawled beneath the plush covers. I didn't go to sleep at first, but as I listened to the snores of my new nakama around me, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I had a nightmare. I was floating in a white mist. Suddenly the captains of the pirate crews I either turned in or killed appeared around me. Their eyes were black and lifeless, like you were looking into a dark void.

"You'll destroy them, just like you destroyed us." They all said as one, their voices blending together. I put my hands over my ears and closed my eyes, trying to shut out the sound. "You don't belong with them. You only bring death wherever you go, just like you brought death to your family. You are a failure, just like you were as a child. You kill everybody around you, even your sister"

"No! It won't happen again! It wasn't my fault! That was all an accident!"

"Was it? Was it really an accident?" they said. Suddenly everything shook and the men disappeared.

"Hey, wake up! Tory!"

**Now it's Tory's room mates' point of view. And you pronounce Thom last name (Limon) Lee-moan.**

The boy on the bed below woke me up. I looked over the side and saw in the moonlight Tory with his hands over his ears, softly but frantically talking in his sleep.

"Guys, wake up." I whispered to the men in the bunk beds on the other wall. They drowsily sat up. I quietly climbed down, grabbed a candle from the chest I shared and lit it. It cast a soft glow and I lowered it so as to not rouse the other men. By now the two guys were next to me. The two men were Mono Kali and Thom Limon. Mono was 33 with short jet black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a pale complexion. He was average height and very skinny. Thom was 38 and had snow white hair and light brown skin. But his eyes were always the first thing you saw, for they were pumpkin orange and rimmed with brown speckles. Thom was precisely the same height as Mono. Next to each other they looked like complete opposites, but they were the best of friends the moment they met. Everybody always teased them saying together their names sounded like the word 'tomorrow'. Leon was 45, with curly brown hair and violet eyes. He was tan and had several scars along his shirtless back.

"The new recruit's having a nightmare. I can't believe Pops let him on the crew. He's so young." Leon informed the two.

"Well, he doesn't have anywhere to go. He's got a bounty." Mono reminded.

We all crouched down next to Tory's bed and Thom gently shook him till he opened his eyes. He has this thing with teenagers and kids, by the way. He looked like a little kid as his eyes widened with fear at Thom, until Thom gently spoke to him to comfort him.

"It's okay; it's just me. Remember, Thom Limon? Everybody calls me lemon. Ring a bell?" Tory slowly answered,

"Yes. Yesterday you kicked Ace out of the kitchens for trying to steal food. You literally kicked him out. He crashed into Haruta, by the way." We both cracked a smile. Mono chuckled a little.

"Well, he deserved it. He should know better than to sneak in the kitchen when I'm on duty. And I got my payback at Haruta for putting hot sauce in my lunch two days ago. Now I won't get punished by my commander." 

"You're in 3rd Division, right?"

"You are correct. Now do you think you can sleep, or do you want to sleep with me?"

"Can I sleep with you please?" Tory requested. As he and Thom returned to bed with his arm draped around the teenagers' shoulders, Leon blew out the candle and he and Mono returned to their own beds. After we lay underneath the covers Tory looked at Thom for a moment before he closed his eyes and soon he evenly was breathing in and out. Thom followed suit.

**The next chapter will be up as soon as I can finish it.**


	4. Chapter 4

**All rights belong to the creators of One Piece. Thom Limon, Mono Kali, Leon and Belle belong to me.**

**Chapter 4**

Thom woke me up that morning. As everybody else did the same, I went to the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face and washed my mouth with water. I could get more hygiene products once we landed. On walking back to the room, I grabbed a change of clothes form the chest. I put on a red button-up, short sleeve shirt and a pair of knee-length khaki shorts. The shorts were a little big so I had to borrow one from Leon. He and I strode into the hallway and found Mono and Thom waiting for me.

"Morning." Mono greeted.

"Right back at you." I replied.

"Come on. We better hurry to the dining hall before all the food is gone." Leon prompted. The four of us hurried to the deck to get our meals. As we sat down and ate, I asked the three men not to tell anybody about the nightmare.

"I will respect your need for privacy, but I just have to ask, why?" asked Mono.

"Just, please. I need to solve my own problems." Leon was about to protest, but Thom stopped him. He looked at Leon, a silent message passing between them. Then Thom looked at me.

"Okay. But remember; any body on this ship will help you. Especially Mono, Leon, and I." all three smiled, and I grinned back. Before we left the hall, a tall lady in a chefs outfit came up to us and asked,

"Could one of you guys help me prepare lunch?" the three men glanced at each other, obviously not in the mood to help the chef.

"I can help. I don't have anything else to do." I said, saving my friends from a morning of cooking. Mono mouthed silent thanks before the trio ran out of there. The lady, who informed me her name was Belle, led me to the sink and told me to wash my hands, put on an apron, and after that sat me down on a stool in a corner, with a large crate of potatoes and a large pot. She put a knife in my hands and told me to peel the potatoes in the crate. _All _of them. Fortunately I was good with blades, so in thirty minutes, half of the potatoes were peeled and in the pot. I dropped the one I was holding, because I heard several explosions and the entire ship lurched.

"Marines are attacking!" somebody yelled on deck. I removed the apron and ran out the door. There was smoke coming from the side of the ship, where we had been hit by cannonballs. Marines were swarming from the battleship onto the 'Moby Dick'. One man charged at me, sword raised overhead. I quickly jumped, graceful like a cat, and brought my left shoulder on his neck, knocking the man out. I landed, crouched, and swung my right leg in a half circle, knocking a group of Marines feet out from under them, sending them sprawling on their faces. I noticed Mono having trouble with five burly men surround him and the circle was slowly getting smaller. I rushed over, jumped over the men, and landed in front of Mono, who adopted a look of shock at my sudden appearance. I kicked the man I faced in the chest, leaving him staggering backward. Another pointed his gun at me, which I kicked out of his hands and punched him in the face, ending with him clutching his bleeding nose. Two more men rushed at me from front and behind. Jumping up, they crashed into each other and both fainted from the impact of their heads. The final man just ran for his life when I gave him a death stare. He may look tough, but he was a total sissy.

When I paused a moment to catch my breath, a shadow covered me from behind and I saw a Marine sneak up on me and cut my back with his sword. Mono punched the enemy so he was unconscious, sat down with his legs crossed, and cradled my head in his lap, blood flowing nonstop from my wound. All the Marines had fled by now, carrying the unconscious and the injured. A doctor came to us to look at my wound. Others had been injured, but not as bad as me. Mono flipped me face down on the floor as the infirmary was already full. The doctor pulled off the pieces of my shirt and proceeded to wash my wound. I whimpered a little from the sting. Then the cut was bandaged and Mono carried me to the room we slept in, put me in my bed and he stood by my side until I fell asleep, burying my head in the pillow.

**Now to Mono's point of view.**

I punched Tory's attacker in the face, then sat down to hold Tory's head in my lap. I had grown close to him, like the rest of the crew, even when he's only been up two days. The Marines picked up their unconscious and fled, as we easily defeated them. I was going to get revenge against the man who hurt our 'younger brother'. The doc came over and set to treating Tory's injury. After that was done, I carried him to our room and put him in bed. I stayed until I was sure he was asleep. Then I got one of my novels, climbed up to my bunk and started to read. There I could keep an eye on Tory. I should be helping repair the ship, but someone had to be near in case he had another nightmare. I spent the rest of the day there. I only rested when it was late and I fell asleep with my book open on my face. Thom came in a few minutes later and must've removed my book and pulled the covers over me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5, Tory**

Groggily I got up, not knowing what happened. Then I saw my chest wrapped in bandages, and I remembered everything that happened. Ever since I'd been pulled out of the ocean, something had felt wrong. I thought it just had been an effect of my injuries from the explosion. Also, I had a throbbing sensation in my shoulder. That also was the shoulder that was cut, so I pulled away the bandages to inspect my open wound. I could see a hint of metal embedded in my flesh. Painfully I pulled it out, and as I held it up to look at it better, I suddenly felt like all my energy had been drained. I dropped it on the blanket that covered my legs, slightly staining it.

It was sea stone. My mind rushed to before I had been arrested in Alabasta. I had found a weird oval-shaped, green fruit, which I had idiotically ate not realizing it was a Devil Fruit. Somehow Uncle Derry had known, and had used sea stone which a sliver had gotten stuck in my shoulder in the explosion, thus dulling my senses. It had also been overlooked by my crew. And when did I start thinking of them as 'my' crew!

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Then I noticed Mono on his bunk, asleep. How long had he been there? I quietly got out of bed, pulled a shirt from the chest and my boots, and exited the room. When I got out on deck, I was welcomed by Thom and Leon.

"Hey! You're alright!" Leon exclaimed.

"Of course he's alright. He was strong enough to take down those Marines." scolded Thom, cuffing Leon on the ear.

"Hey!" Leon said, swatting back at Thom.

"Guys, before you say anything else, I have to inform you that I recently discovered I ate a Devil Fruit." I interrupted.

"You do? Why 'recently'?" Thom asked.

"I was idiotic enough to find one in Alabasta and not realize it _was_ a Devil Fruit. My sensei would be so disappointed." sighing, I raised a hand to my forehead.

"I'm sure he'll forgive you. Maybe we should keep this secret, until you know what Devil Fruit you ate. The commanders have a bunch of ways to try and find out. And watch out for Ace, his are the craziest." tipped Thom. Then we turned around to find Ace standing behind us with a goofy grin on his face.

"I doubt you weren't listening to our conversation the whole time, were you?" Leon asked.

"I was. So you've got a Devil Fruit and don't know which one it is, huh? Why don't we fight and see if we find out?" Ace proposed.

"Thank you for your offer, but no- ahh!" I yelped as Ace grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the front of the ship.

"Hey, everybody! Tory has Devil Fruit and we're going to fight to find out which one it is!" he shouted.

"Not without my permission. But this seems interesting, so continue." said Whitebeard.

"Pops!" I complained. He only laughed making me pout, crossing my arms in a childish manner. The commanders and most of the crew who had gathered at a safe distance away laughed, my face turning red. "Fine. I give. But I'll need a sword." one was quickly tossed from somebody in the crowd and I caught it with ease. Turning to face Ace, we got into fighting positions. Ace attacked first, jumping at me and turning his fist into fire. I ducked and ran under him to slash his back. Ace turned around and jumped again to dodge it. I sliced up, succeeding in making a small cut in his chest.

"Not bad. But I'm better." said Ace, slightly impressed.

"Soon you'll be eating your words. **Slashing Tornado!**" I flew forward, spinning so my blade continuously sliced at him. The first few made their mark, joining the first one, but then Ace burst out more flames. I stopped and stepped back, clutching my burned wrist. My opponent saw the opening, and took it.

"**Cross Fire!**" a plume of cross-shaped fire cam rushing towards me, and I knew it was too late too dodge. Then I began to change. My skin became covered in sleek black fur, and my hand became paws. There were cat ears on my head and a tail on my rear end. I had turned into a jet-black panther. I agilely ran out of the range of the attack and curved my body, slashing at Ace's waist with my new claws. After that I spun around and kicked him down. I stalked over to his fallen body and sat on his back, reverting to my half-full transformation so I looked like my regular self only with the cat ears, tail, and claws.

"Ha. I told you would be eating your words. But then again I only got you by surprise, so I had an unfair advantage."

"Yeah. Now could you get off me?" I stood up and helped Ace to his feet. Then he was escorted by Kingdew to the infirmary. Mono came up to me.

"That was some fight." before I could reply, my stomach grumbled. Mono threw back his head and laughed, but not meanly.

"And you're awake. Do you want to come with me and get something to eat?"

"Sure."


	6. Chapter 6

**Ichigo1508: There! I changed the story! Are you happy now?**

**Blade of Hellfire: Sorry for making Tory leave in my first version! I rewrote the story so please inform me on my writing!**

**Chapter 6, Tory**

After I had ate and crashed in my cabin, I woke up earlier than everyone else since I nearly fell off my bed. Quickly I grabbed the side of my bed before I hit the floor, my legs dangling barely a few inches above the ground. I let go and quietly landed on my feet. Then I looked around to see if anybody had woken up. Nobody seemed to have been roused, until I froze as Thom groaned and flipped onto his left side, the blankets sliding down a bit, and his back facing me. I clamped my hands over my mouth to prevent a gasp escaping past my lips, for when the blankets moved, they revealed the burn on his right shoulder. 'The Hoof of the Soaring Dragon' or you could call it the curse of a slave belonging to the World Nobles. I climbed back to my bunk and slid beneath the covers. My head filled with thoughts as I lay there. _'Thom used to be a slave? How did he escape? How did he end up as part of the Whitebeard Pirates? Does everybody else know? Why didn't he tell me?_ I guess it was too painful to talk about. After lying there for half an hour, I fell into a fitful sleep, nagged by visions of Thom being tortured, beaten to do labor, and this weird dream about him being forced by a Noble to be their dress-up doll. I woke up with the first rays of morning shining on my face and Thom bending down, a look of worry on his face. He had changed out of his sleeping clothes and changed into a black button-up shirt that covered his shoulder, his scar hidden from view.

"Did you have a bad dream again, Tory?" he asked.

"It's nothing to worry about, I swear. I just heard a scary story from somebody. You won't go parading around, demanding who told the story, will you?"

"I won't. I'm not that much of a mother hen, you know. We still have that deal about not telling anybody about your spook 'ems." Thom assured me.

"Spook 'ems?" I said upon hearing the strange word.

"That's what my parents used to call nightmares." he smiled a wide grin. I wondered how he learned to smile like that, despite the scar on his shoulder. Even though I was filled to the brim with curiosity, I couldn't bear to ask him about his past. Maybe I'll ask his commander. Jozu ought to know about his past. "Come on. You better wash up and get dressed. I obeyed and followed my normal morning routine. After making my bed, I walked to the wash room's wash basin and splashed water on my face. Then I wiped off the water with a hand towel and brushed my teeth with my finger and somebody's toothpaste which they had kindly provided. Then I rinsed and went back to my trunk in the cabin for a change. I pulled out a bright yellow and black long sleeve shirt, a sleeveless navy blue hoodie, and a pair of khaki knee-length shorts. I had been wearing my boots every day as I had no other footwear. Afterwards I would take my worn clothes to the washroom, as Mary-Ann had advised. I left them to dry on my bed and left with Leon, Mono, and Thom towards the dining hall. After my first nightmare I had noticed I stuck around them a lot. We talked a bit as we ate.

"We're going to land at Water 7 for supplies this afternoon. You're going to have to buy clothes and bathroom supplies, remember that Tory. Plus you'll need weapons. You can't depend completely on your Devil Fruit. And don't use it at all unless it's necessary." that meant I would have time to ask Jozu.

"I'll remember. But why can't I use it?" I questioned. Mono answered me.

"One, it'll attract the Marines. Two, your bounty will rise, so _other_ bounty hunters will be after you. Three, slave traders are always on the lookout for Devil Fruit users, so watch out. Even if you don't use it, you still might catch their eye."

"Okay."

"You know, since you don't have any money and it doesn't seem you've been to Water 7 before, how about I go with you?" Mono suggested.

"Sure. I'd like that." I replied. While we were in town, I could ask Mono, too. "I've got to do something, so I'll leave you be." I picked up and put away my dishes, and left the dining hall with a wave to my friends. At this time Jozu would probably be near Pops. I had grown accustomed to calling Whitebeard that. Indeed, I found him talking to Fossa. I walked up to the two men who noticed me coming and diverted their attention away from each other.

"Do you need something, Tory?" Fossa asked.

"Yeah, can I ask you some questions, Jozu, in private?"

"Is it urgent because Fossa and I were discussing-."

"Its fine, Jozu, we can finish our conversation when you two are done." Fossa interrupted. Jozu gave him a strange look but looked back to me.

"Sure. We can talk at the back of the ship." I followed him as Fossa went over to Rakuyo and the pair was soon deep in conversation. After we stopped Jozu faced me.

"So what do you need to know?" I didn't know how to say this without revealing Thom's past in case he didn't know.

"Well, did Thom ever have business with the World Nobles?" Jozu seemed startled at my choice of question.

"Why do you ask this?"

"Well, he said something in his sleep about them, and I didn't want to tell him I was eavesdropping on him." I lied.

"How were you awake before him? He usually wakes up before most of the men since he's an early bird."

"I, um, almost fell out of my bed." I answered sheepishly. Jozu chuckled a bit, but his expression soon changed back to usual serious demeanor.

"Well, he at least doesn't have a very good past with them. What are you getting at?" he said, now wary of my plot. I sighed at being found out, deciding I would just get this over with.

"Did Thom used to be a slave for the World Nobles?" I demanded even though it was kind've obvious. Jozu face changed to a sad one, one of the rare times he showed a different emotion.

"He did used to be one. We found him on an island, along with an albino three-year old. We raised them ever since, and two years after that day, we found out that little albino, whom we used to call Pandora, real name was Mono. He just dyes his hair so he doesn't stick out so much." I gaped at finding out Mono used to be a slave, too. "You probably don't know that they both have Devil Fruits, either. They don't like to use them, so their not that skilled. Thom still passes out if he uses his power too long." this managed to work a smile onto my face.

"What are their Devil Fruits, anyway?" I asked him.

"You're going to have to find that out for yourself. And you should be talking about Thom's past with him, not me. It's not nice to talk about somebody behind their back. Also, you might be able to find out how he escaped. He never told us that part."

"Does that mean everybody else knows?"

"Only the commanders and Whitebeard know. He told Whitebeard first and I heard he pleaded on his knees to him that he would only to tell the Commanders. Anyway, you should go talk to him about it."

"Okay. Where is he anyway?"

"He's right next to you." I heard to my side. I spun around to find Thom standing only a few feet away with tears running down his face. "I'm sorry; I should have told you sooner. It's that it's really painful to talk about." he apologized.

"Thom its okay, you didn't have to tell anybody until you were ready." Sensing an emotional scene, Jozu left, walking past us. When he was gone, Thom shut his eyes and covered his face with his hands. I stepped forward to put an arm around his shaking shoulders. He opened his eyes which I could see in the gaps between his fingers.

"They killed my parents and I don't even know where my twin sister and younger brother are. They didn't get caught when I did." he whispered slowly. I noticed as Mono walked up to us with a casual expression but when he saw Thom's state it hardened into one of worry and concern. I stepped away as he wrapped his arms around Thom's waist. Suddenly I could imagine him as a three year old albino boy, oblivious to the world's problems.

"Why you crying?" he said as if he _had _turned into a three year old. Thom set his arms down, wrapped an arm around the albino, and patted the worried the young mans head.

"It's nothing, Panda, I promise." I guessed Panda was a nickname when they still called Mono Pandora. Thom looked at me while wiping his face.

"Can you tell Thatch that I'll be in bed today? I feel kinda drained." he said with his usual cheery smile. When he was sure I would do as he said he turned back to Mono.

"You better get back to your chores, little one."

"I'm not little anymore!" Mono whined as he released Thom with a pout. Thom left for some sleep with Mono following despite Thom's words to see him off to bed. I left to inform Thatch that Thom was taking a day of rest.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7, Tory**

A few hours later, we anchored ship in a bay just outside of Water Mono and I left toward some stores he was familiar with. As I followed Mono up the sidewalks, I took a nervous glance at the wide water way beside us. If Mono truly had a Devil Fruit, we could easily drown here. What Devil Fruit power did he have anyway? And did everybody else know? The best way to find out would be to ask him.

"Hey, Mono." I called.

"Uh-huh? What do you need?" he asked without turning around.

"Jozu said you and Thom both have Devil Fruits." answering Mono.

"Yeah, we do."

"What can you guys do?"

"I ate a Zoan type Devil Fwuit, like yours. It's called the Tweet-Tweet Fruit, Model Owl. Thom doesn't use his lot, since it drains his energy and he can pass out if he uses it too long. It's called the Ghost-Ghost Fruit. It lets him summon the spiwits of animals that have died in the surrounding area. He can call on animals that died over a hundred years ago! But that takes more power, and usually gets nosebleeds when he does that. And he can only summon animals' fwom whatever island he's on." I noticed while he talked that he still had a baby lisp. "And nobody other than our commander and, of course, Pops know about our Devil Fwuits."

"Why doesn't anyone else know?"

"Well, we don't want to get pwomoted or anything and we don't really feel like spreading it around. Jozu only found out by accident. Oh, here we are. This is the store I talked about on the ship." we were standing in front of a large store with a sign the shade of my hair with the word 'Star Shooter' in light blue painted with fancy, curvy letters. When we walked in, there were a _ton _of people around us, and even more racks of clothes.

"This store is really popular, but not as popular as the 'Criminal' line. Teenagers' clothes are in the back on the left. I'll be in the Young Adults section wight in the front on the right." Mono left and I walked to the Teenagers section. Their clothes were quite interesting.

As I flipped through the rack, a flash of blue hair distracted me for a moment and I turned my gaze in that direction. '_Strange. I could've sworn that looked like _her _hair.'_ I thought. I directed my attention back to the rack. I picked out a silver short sleeve shirt with dark blue stars and a pair of long white jeans. I looked in one of the tall mirrors scattered in the store. Suddenly Mono appeared behind me and yelled "Boo!" making me nearly jump out of my skin. He had some clothes draped on his arm.

"That looks good on you. Pick out some more clothes and we can go to the cashier. I'll pay fow them." I was slightly embarrassed at having to have Mono pay for the clothes. Quickly I chose a two more shirts and pants of various lengths. When I turned back to Mono he was holding a black and white checkered scarf. Silver stars and moons were sewn into the fabric.

"Try this." he held out the scarf to me and I tried it on in the mirror. I guessed it did look good on me. We weaved through the crowd towards where shoes were and I saw a flash of blue hair again. _'Is someone stalking me?'_ I picked out some straw sandals, socks, and a pair of purple rain boots. And of course I got boxers. After the cashier ringed up and bagged our purchases, Mono once again led me towards a convenience store for a toothbrush. Then we headed to a weapon shop. I looked through the barrel of swords, inspecting whichever one caught my eye. You should always check if the owners trying to pull a fast one on you. Then I saw it. It had a golden sheath with a blood red handle. I picked it up and pulled it out. Mono was soon next to me, watching as I looked over the black blade. It was so black that it seemed to be made of night itself. A dark aura filled the air.

"'The Black Blade of the Demon', thought to be a myth. The tale says that it wielded by the Devil himself. How did it end up here?" he waved his hand, gesturing to the rather rundown shop. "Hey, old man, how much is this?" he yelled to the man at the cash register, as he was asleep. He woke up, very startled, then squinted at the sword I was holding.

"I've never seen it in my shop before. You can have it. I don't ask money for things that aren't in my inventory." He said, waving for us to leave and let him get back to his nap.

"Really, are you sure? You could sell this for a lot of money. There has to be a catch to this." I exclaimed. By the sheepish look on his face, he knew he had been caught red-handed.

"Yes, there is a catch. There's a very chaotic pirate crew here. They've been causing havoc to my shop and other places, demanding to be given what they want for free. The carpenters have been trying to catch them, but they're sneaky rats. Nobody can seem to catch them."

"So you want us to try." Mono finished.

"Yes, that's what I need you to do. Will you do it?" the man pleaded. Mono gave me a look that said, _'Well? Do you want to?_

"No thanks, my bounty hunting days are over. But we'll keep an eye out. What do they look like?" I asked.

"They call themselves the Black Water Pirates. Their captain is called 'The Black Plague.' Here's his wanted poster and some photos of other crew members, but their not very clear." he handed Mono several sheets. "And you can take the sword. At least you'll look around, that's good enough, and like I said, I don't sell anything that's not been written down in my inventory." after waving goodbye, we exited the shop and headed back towards the ship. The trip was a bit boring, so we took a peek at the pictures. Their captain is actually quite handsome.

The picture depicted a man around 30 years with dark curly hair, green eyes, and dark brown skin, way darker than Thom's'. We flipped through the other pictures, when we stopped walking to stare at a single photo. It was blurry, but the resemblance was obvious. The picture showed a 20-year-old girl with hair the exact same shade as mine, only straight and long. She had dark eyes, a button-like nose, and pale skin. Just. Like. Mine. The only thing I didn't recognize was the cruel smile on her face. This girl was no doubt my older sister, Tami. There had to be some mistake. Wait, there couldn't be. She was wearing the Black Water Pirates Jolly Roger on her shirt. I fainted right then and there.

Mono must've dragged me back to the ship, because I woke up in my bed. I looked out the window and saw it was quite late. I must've been out for a while. Mono was asleep on his bed, curled up in a ball and sucking his thumb. I guess he hadn't lost all of his habits from when he was an infant, and he must be tired since he had to have dragged me halfway across Water 7. I chuckled softly at the sight of a 25-year-old man sucking his thumb. Thom was in bed, too. Was he asleep the whole time? Maybe I should get dinner before I crashed for the night. I was answered when my stomach growled. I walked the familiar route to the Dining Hall. I felt lonely without my friends with me. When I got my plate, I picked at my food a bit before actually eating it. My mind was busy with thoughts on my sister. I shook my head to get rid of them. I would be able to think better in the morning. I finished my meal, and gave my dishes to the kitchen helpers. First I headed towards the showers for a quick washing, then donned my clothes and returned to my bed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8, Tory**

Once again I went through my normal morning routine. Today Thom got out of bed, so I talked to him about my sister while I put on my new clothes.

"So your sister's part of the Black Water Pirates?" he asked. I nodded slowly, still a bit traumatized at the news.

"Tami's amazing with guns. When we were young, she'd always beat up any pirates and outlaws that came to our island. She purposely wouldn't shoot at them, but would cause the bullets to ricochet off of the surrounding area to surprise the enemy, so we called her that. It became her second name, 'Ricochet'. She can do this because she's a whiz at calculating and angles, that stuff."

"So technically she is a genius." Thom said.

"Yeah, she is. When she was 12, she left home to be a bounty hunter and further train as a sharpshooter. She went with some guy, and of course our parents were against it. They tried to talk her out of it and so did I, but she left one night and I haven't seen her again, until now. When I turned 12, I left, too, to train as a swordsman and I ended up becoming a bounty hunter." I took out the photo of her. I could barely stand to look at the expression on her face. "I've never seen Tami like this. She promised me she would never become a pirate. Sometimes, she even rambled about joining the Marines."

"Interesting story you have. So what are you planning to do?" Thom commented.

"Well, I plan to confront and talk to her, but the problem is…" I paused.

"You have to find her first. And the Black Water Pirates are known to be nearly impossible to meet unless they're finding you."

"Yeah, that pretty sums it up. So I have no idea how I'm going to do this. Also, by the way, I think she was following me when Mono and I went to buy some stuff. But I didn't want to draw conclusions, so I didn't tell him."

"Well, lucky you, because you've got me. I have a plan." I sat up right away, since I had been lying down on my bed.

"You do! Tell me!" I demanded. Thom pushed me back down.

"Easy there, Tory. No need to get so worked up. So here it is." I leaned forward in anticipation.

"Well? Don't keep me waiting."

"First, though, some questions." I groaned.

"Geez, don't get so depressed, Totes."

"Totes? Really? Please don't call me that."

"It fits you though!" Thom countered. "But fine." he rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was trying to suppress a laugh. "Anyway, you haven't seen you sister for eight years, right?" I nodded. "Were you guys really close as kids?" I nodded again. "And are you sure it was Tami at the store." I nodded a third time. I was starting to get a headache from all this nodding. "Then I think you don't have to look for her. She's probably looking for you if she was following you at the store."

"You are correct." we heard from the doorway, thus making me jump. Both of us turned our heads to find Tami leaning against the frame. She looked the same as I remembered, only taller and her hair longer. She walked toward us and stopped once she was standing next to me. "How are you doing, Tory?" she ruffled my hair like she did back in our village. I slapped her hand away, suddenly filled with rage.

"That's all you say after we haven't met for eight years? 'How are you doing?'" I nearly shouted at her.

"Hey, no reason to get upset, bro. So you're a pirate now, too?" she said casually.

"Don't get off topic. I have plenty of reasons to be upset. How did you get here unnoticed? Do you have any idea how our parents felt when you left? How I felt when you left? Did you even think about us or what you were doing? Why couldn't you have at least waited when you were older, like Mom and Dad begged you to do?" I hissed.

"We were poor, Tory! We barely had enough money to feed ourselves! That man helped me get strong enough to catch bounties and I started sending money to you. Or were you too caught up in your own life to notice are families' problems? Dad had to work for that horrible man and mother could finally get some new clothes!" she shot back. I froze up at her outburst. This wasn't Tami. Tami never loses her temper. She's supposed to be the patient girl, who worked out arguments, not the girl who starts them.

"Mother and Father are dead. We didn't ever receive any money. Mom got sick and none of the doctors could cure her. Dad was busy with work and she insisted I go to school. You're a genius so you didn't need to go to school. But because you left, there was nobody, not even the neighbors, to watch her. Dads' job finally killed him that same year. I was all alone. You can't even begin to describe how lonely I was." Tami raised a hand to her mouth. Then Thom gave me an odd glance.

"Tory, you didn't mention that in your story." I shot him a cold glance. "Tory, I'm going to leave until you guys settle your business and you cool off. And hey, Tory's sister, I have one thing to say to you: Don't kill each other." And with that he left. We looked at each other and, despite our heated argument, burst into laughter.

"Hey, Tory, Mom and Dad would always tell us that."

"Yeah, I don't know why, though. We never got into a 'serious' fight. They'd always do it like this." I proceeded to do an imitation of our parents, which made Tami burst into a fit of laughter, holding her stomach, and I followed suit. I wiped the tears from my eyes once I stopped.

"Why were you lonely? What happened? Why are you a pirate?" my face switched to one of grief.

"When Mom got sick, pirates attacked the village. People were too busy doing repairs to help us. Then when Mom and Dad passed away, pirates came again and everybody but me was murdered. I nearly died, until this man came. Here I was, surrounded, doomed, and this stranger suddenly appears out of nowhere. He killed them all with one swing of his sword. He took me in, and I learned that he was only called 'Blood', nothing else. Later he told me he needed an apprentice, so I decided I would train under him, since my home was gone and I didn't know where you were. Blood's a really good guy. He's really funny and kind, though very strict with his teachings. We traveled a lot, but we would always return to this winter island. Truth is I don't know the name of the island. Or why he saved me. I haven't seen him in a while."

"So how did you end up from a famous bounty hunter to a Whitebeard Pirate?"

"Well, the World Government were worried I would go rouge. So they had me arrested when I was in Alabasta. Uncle Derry had to do it."

"No way!" she said.

"Yes way. But he didn't like it one bit, so he blew up the ship, I got found by Whitebeard, and here I am. He got killed." there was a moment of silence as we thought about our uncle. "So how are you part of the Black Water Pirates?"

"Well, Tory, while I was a bounty hunter, I realized something. Neither the Marines nor pirates are 'the good side'. So the best way to maintain order is to build a government that controls everything and everyone. We're aiming for a government where no one will be different than anyone else. And the only way to do that is to destroy everything and start over. Captain thinks the same, so he gathered me and others. Once we have enough power and people we'll lead our army on all the islands and kill everybody but babies and young children." I shrank back from the person who no longer even resembled Tami.

"You're insane! Tami, can't you see how horrible that is?" I yelled at her.

"Come on Tory, join us." She stood up and stretched out her hand. "This is the only way to ensure a perfect world, one with no violence, no confusion, where everyone is the same." I unsheathed my sword and leaped at her. Before I could cut her, she pulled out one of her shotguns on her belt. She fired it at the chest, and the bullet hit the metal border and hit me in the back. Instantly I fell to the floor with a dull _thud._ I coughed up some blood as I laid face down. "You won't die. I missed your vitals. But this could have ended differently, little brother. We're going to lead an assault on Water 7 tonight." Tami headed toward the doorway, and before she left, she glanced at me. Her eyes were full of tears. She disappeared just as Thom, and Mono rushed into the room. Then I blacked out. Again.

When I woke up, instead of my cabin, I woke up in the infirmary. My shirt was missing and my chest was wrapped in bandages. Leon sat on a chair next to the bed, fast asleep. How long had I been out? Silently I got out of bed as not to disturb Leon. My shirt from the clash with Tami was on the bedside table, the hole carefully stitched up. Great, I just ruined a new shirt. Who knew pirates could sew? I slipped it on, along with my boots which were close by. I tiptoed to the door and closed it behind me. I stood there and breathed in the salty air. Then I was startled by Mono once again as he appeared next to me, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Boo! Again!" he said loudly. "Nice to see you up and walking."

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"About maybe seven hours." he answered. At that moment I remembered what Tami said about the assault. It made no sense to reveal her crews plans. Wait a minute, she was warning me! She isn't entirely insane at all! If she knew I said that, she would beat the living daylights out of me. But first I had to tell Pops.

"Hey Mono, before this conversation goes on any longer, Tami said the Black Water Pirates were going to massacre Water 7 tonight! Even if they lose, tons of people will die." his horrified expression wasn't an unexpected reaction.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go tell Pops!" I could have walked there myself, but Mono grabbed the back of my shirts collar and dragged me there instead. Once we got to the main deck, I switched to my hybrid form and landed on my feet so I didn't hit my head. "Hey Pops!" he called to Whitebeard whom was, as usual, sitting in his throne. Mono proceeded to tell him the Black Water Pirates plan.

"I never expected him to stoop to that level." commented Whitebeard.

"Have you met them before, Whitebeard?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it was 8 years ago." Marco answered for me. "We had landed at one of the islands we claimed as our 'territory'. Bodies littered the streets, not one of them alive. There was no sign of a fight, but the bodies were all shriveled up, right, Ace." he looked at Ace who nodded and Marco continued. "Then somebody found this guy in an alleyway, curled in a ball and rocking back and forth like a madman. When the guy who found him tried to get close, however, the man just screamed and suddenly our crewmember started to shrivel up. This weird green orb came out of his body and it disappeared. Then the stranger fainted. We didn't know what to do, even though he just killed one of our men. So we brought him on the ship." he paused, as if remembering the time he had spent with them.

"Then what?" I said, urging him to go on.

"Well, when he woke up, there wasn't any trace of his insanity. Pops let him stay until we reached the next island. During that time, he mostly just stayed in his bed, under the covers, except to use the bathroom or eat. But he seemed pretty nice. The weird thing is, the day before we would reach the next island, he disappeared. It was like he was never there in the first place." he concluded.

"Maybe he's insane again and using his power unconsciously." I suggested.

"Could be." said Whitebeard.


	9. Chapter 9

**Ichigo1508: Are you going to keep saying good job?**

**Blade of Hellfire: Thanks!**

**Chapter 9, Tory**

The commanders decided that the best way to stop the Black Water Pirates would be to find their ship. The only way they could keep their ship undetected would be to dock a distance away from Water 7, and left the ship with small boats. Right now Thom, Mono, and I were on one of the small boats and searching the surrounding area. Whitebeard had decided to take action since he couldn't tolerate an act like this. But so far nobody had had any luck on finding the Black Water Pirates ship. Just when we were about to give up and head back to the Moby Dick, I thought I saw something move in the water a few yards away from our boat. I squinted and was met with an amazing sight: A giant bubble was deep in the water with a large ship inside. People could be seen moving around on the deck, perfectly relaxed despite their position.

"Hey guys, look over there." I said with my voice lowered in case the people below would here us. Thom and Mono peered into the water and had expressions of awe, shock, and curiosity.

"That has to be a work of a Devil Fruit if they're that calm." stated Thom.

"Yeah." murmured Mono. I squinted and I could see the Jolly Roger hanging limply at the top of the mast. No doubt that was the Jolly Roger of the Black Water Pirates. I saw somebody familiar, and even though they were blurry to see since they were beneath the water, it had to be my sister. With our families' trademark blue hair; we'd stick out in any crowd. She was talking to a shorter girl with long blond hair and it seemed she was holding a long pipe.

"Let's get back to the ship." I said. We were about to start rowing when there was an explosion right next to our boat. I looked down and managed to row our boat away before several small bubbles rose to the surface and exploded as they met the air. Once the smoke cleared, I could barely see the distorted appearance of the blond girl with her fist in a circle held to her mouth. She must be the one that created the bubble that was holding the ship. She put her fist on the bubble wall and a large bubble rose speedily towards us. There was no way we could move in time. Before I knew it I was in the air, above the remains of our boat as it exploded. I looked up this time to find myself in the grip of the claws of a human-sized snow white owl. This must be Monos' Devil Fruit. He was holding on to Thom's shirt with his other foot.\

"Nice save, Mono. You're getting faster at changing." praised Thom. He gave Mono a thumb up sign as well. Mono cawed in reply. A shadow came over us and we found the Moby Dick coming our way. Mono cawed again and flew onto the deck. As we landed there was more than a few gasps. I gave a loud 'OW!' as I tumbled heads-over heels as I was let go_. _Thom landed more gracefully on his feet. When Mono changed and I stood up I gave him my best death glare, which wasn't very good.

"Sorry, my bad. Stop staring at me, I'm not that experienced with carrying people." he defended himself. I didn't hold my glare for long and gave Mono a hug instead.

"I forgive you. At least we're alive." I replied. Somebody in the 10th division came up to us.

"Hey, Mono, how come you didn't tell us you had a Devil Fruit?" he asked. Mono put his hands on his hips and answered,

"Because you never asked me if I did."

"Well, I didn't, but still-." he was interrupted by Rakuyo.

"Everybody, get ready to fight!" he exclaimed as the Black Water Pirates ship rose to the surface. Now I could get a good look at it. It was pure black, with a hyena figurehead. The mast had their Jolly Roger on it something that I had managed to miss when the ship was submerged. It had crossbones designed to look decayed and worn away, with a purple skull in the center with black polka dots. In truth it was kind of silly to look at. One man went to the front of the ship, which I recognized as 'The Black Plague'. He was wearing a long black trench coat and black boots, along with a red bandanna on his head.

"Whitebeard, nice to see you again." he said calmly.

"What have you been doing all these years, Kola?" said Whitebeard equally calm.

"After I left you guys, I went to assemble my own crew. To get revenge on everybody who refused to help me or my people." Kola answered, then he threw back is head and gave a high, insanity-filled laugh.

"By everybody, don't you mean innocent people who had never met you?" I shouted at him. Thom put a restraining hand on my shoulder. This guy was getting on my nerves for some reason, and I realized I was a little afraid of him, and I rarely get afraid. I inched closer to him for reassurance.

"None of these people are innocent. They did nothing to stop the Marines who massacred my people because we were too 'hostile and savage'. We had done nothing wrong, though! They deserve to know what I had to go through!" he replied, hysteria now evident in his voice.

"You shouldn't do this, this won't fix anything. It's time to move on, Kola." ordered Marco firmly.

"Shut up!" Kola yelled at him. "Black Water Pirates, attack!" he shouted to his crew and all pandemonium broke out. I shifted into my panther form and rushed at the nearest opponent. He was quite skilled, actually, as he blocked my swipes with his swords. Switching into my hybrid from instead, I pulled out my sword at my side and swung at him, cutting through his swords and cutting his chest. As our eyes met, I saw his pupils change from an empty black to a pale blue. My opponent hit the floor, injured but alive. Since I supposed he was influenced by Kola's Devil Fruit, I didn't kill him. I continued on to the next enemy. Mono was back in hid owl form fighting the girl who used bubbles to attack. He couldn't get close since the girl kept making those exploding bubbles. I stealthily snuck up on her, and raised my sword. When I swung, though, the girl had turned around and blew a large bubble in front of her, and my sword made contact but didn't go through the bubble. I stepped back as the bubble took the shape of a teddy bear.

"Really, a bear?" I complained. Fighting a girl was one thing, but fighting a bubble teddy bear as big as me was another.

"I like bears. And I prefer to know my opponents name. I'm Ilea." she gave a crazed laugh. Yep, she's insane too.

"And I'm-."

"Tory Yokomoto, I know. Do you like watching people die painful deaths, or seeing babies burn?" she interrupted.

"One, no I don't, and two, if you knew my name, why'd you ask?" I answered.

"Because horsy said I had to as, and everybody has to listen to horsy." Ilea said. Right now she was swaying back and forth on her legs.

"Okay, I'm going to stop talking to you now since I have a feeling if I do, I'll get insane, too, and I don't really like the idea of insanity." I retorted.

"Tory is a killjoy!" she sang. "Go get him Teddy!" she commanded and 'Teddy' rushed forward, fists up. Ilea turned around and left her bear to fight on his own as Mono swooped down and took several slashes at her. I jumped up so I was over the giant teddy bears head. I swung my sword, cutting off Teddy's bubble ear. But he didn't pop. As I landed I watched on with horror as my opponents' ear grew back in. I ran out of the way as Teddy threw a punch at me, making a hole in the floorboards. I slashed again on its back, but it closed back up, as expected. I jumped up into the air again. '_Think, Tory, Think!_' I mentally yelled at myself. How was I going to beat this thing? What makes bubbles pop? Then I got it: water! Suddenly I had a plan, but I was also at risk.

I ran towards the railing so I was standing at the edge of the ships side. Teddy rushed at me. I had to time this perfectly. He punched me, and I jumped and kicked the back of his head so he tumbled head first into the ocean. Looking down I watched him disintegrate, creating white foam on the waters surface. I looked towards Mono to see him fighting off a large bubble snake. He was having trouble as Ilea kept throwing hits at him. I switched back to my full panther form and ran towards the turned back of Ilea. My head made contact and we both flew forward. I once again went into my hybrid form and yelled to Mono.

"Get it in the water!" Mono cawed and lifted the writhing snake into the air. He let go of it over the ocean.

"Hey! No fair! Don't you know the rules of the land of unicorns?" she said in a singsong voice under me.

I smashed my head into the back of hers, but she remained unrelenting. She brought her foot into my stomach, and I reeled back, clutching my gut. She stood up and blew more of the exploding bubbles. By now I noticed a difference between the types of bubbles. Exploding ones were tinged a very light gray. Solid ones like the kind used for the teddy bear were tinted a pale blue. I jumped, twisted in mid-air, and brought my sword across her back. The wound was bleeding heavily, but her grin just got wider like she was enjoying the pain, I saw as she turned to face me.

"I just love the smell of blood. It fills me with pleasure at the action of injuring someone." She squealed, oblivious to her blood loss.

"But you're the one who got hurt." I reminded. Why was I bothering to talk to this lunatic?

"All the better!" Ilea exclaimed. She blew a bubble which morphed into the shape of a sword. Mono came behind her, claws bared, but Ilea spun around and sliced his chest, red staining his white feathers. Mono flew up to the crows nest, and changed back to his human form, trying to stop the bleeding. But at least he was safe from any further damage.

"You'll pay for that." I growled at her. She simply giggled and answered,

"Make me. Wait, what were we doing? Oh well." our swords met and, despite Ilea being _way _smaller than me, she threatened to push me back. Both of us pulled back, and I rushed forward and instead of using my sword, attacked with my claws. She blocked with her sword and punched me in the side of my head. I tasted blood in my mouth and punched her back. She jumped several feet away form me, a hand on her bruised cheek.

"You're the third person who's been able to hit me in the face." she told me.

"Who's the first and second?" I asked, not expecting to be answered. I was surprised when she did.

"Well, the first was Bl-." she started but finally fainted from the large amount of lost blood. Who was Bl? My thoughts were interrupted as someone punched the back of my head and I fell forward. I clutched my mouth since I had bit my tongue and I spit out mouthfuls of blood. I flipped onto my back and looked at my attacker. It was Tami. I tried to get back onto my feet, but Tami sat down on my chest, pinning me down and making it a bit hard to breathe. She raised her pistol and pointed it at my forehead.

"If you give up now, Tory, I won't have to kill you." Tami said slowly.

"I'm too loyal to the Whitebeard Pirates. Tami, _please _don't do this. What happened to you? Please come back. I miss you." I begged. She considered this for a moment, but any further thoughts were stopped as Kola came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, Tami. Pull the trigger and you'll prove your loyalty to me." he said with a cruel grin on her face. She did as told and pulled back the trigger, but didn't release it. "Go on." Kola encouraged. Just as I thought she was going to take my life, she did something I thought she would never do. She spun around and shot the bullet at Kola. He dodged it, but he didn't notice it ricochet off a bolt, bounce off the frame of a window in the cabin, and head straight for his heart. That's what I thought, until he raised his hand and caught the bullet. Kola dropped it and in one swift moment took out his dagger and made a large cut across Tami's' back. She fell forward and I caught her. I sat up, holding her limp body in my arms. She pushed me away and wobbly raised her gun at her captain. Before she could even pull the trigger, Kola was behind her and held a blade to her throat.

"I saw so much potential in you, Tami. It didn't have to end like this. Before I kill you, tell me. How did you resist my Devil Fruit?" he asked.

"Simple, I always carry some sea stone on me." my sister rasped. "I'd have expected you to figure that out, but I guess you're too stupid and insane to."

"That's enough out of you!" he barked, and blood started to drip from Tami's neck.

"No!" I shouted and head butted him away. Tami fainted and fell into my arms. Kola had gotten up with a malicious grin and was slowly approaching. I panicked. I couldn't fight him with Tami like this.

"Tory!" I heard from above. I looked up to see Mono in hybrid form, his arms as wings and his feet into talons. "Lift her in the air!" he commanded. I did as told and he swooped down, snatching her in his claws and he flew away. Tami would be safe with him. I turned back to the opponent on hand and prayed for the best.


	10. Chapter 10

**Blade of Hellfire: Thank you again.**

**Chapter 10, Tory**

I made the first move. I ran towards Kola and swung my leg out. Kola jumped, avoiding my attack, and kicked me powerfully in the gut. The air left my lungs and I was thrown backwards, my shoulder hitting the railing of the ship. There was barely any time for me to catch my breath as I rolled out of the way, the railing crushed by another kick from Kola. I jumped to my feet and stabbed his side. He hopped back, dislodging my sword. He took a look at the wound and laughed a hysterical laugh.

"If Ilea were ever right about anything, it's the smell of blood! It doesn't matter if it's your own or somebody else's! The sight of blood tells you somebody's injured, that's all that matters!" he said wobbling back and forth. He picked up his dagger from the floor, which he had dropped when I head butted him. Kola then ran so fast when he stabbed me in the chest I was thrown backward again from the impact. This time, though, I stopped myself and skidded a few feet, and then I jumped off the floorboards, threw myself into the air right before I hit Kola with my hands and swung my sword down while upside down above his head. I made a cut in his shoulder but he wasn't fazed at all. I landed and barely ducked in time to avoid another kick from him. I tensed up my legs, and leaped at Kola's face, claws outstretched. He stumbled back, five fresh scratches on his cheek. The grin on his face just got wider as he wiped off some of the blood with his hand, looked at his palm, and started to lick off the red liquid.

"Ew." automatically escaped my mouth as my face twisted to one of disgust. Kola laughed wildly at me and I didn't even have a moment to feel shock as he punched in the head, his fist surrounded in dark smoke. Hitting the floor, I sat there clutching my nose, as my thoughts went all hazy. I couldn't think straight. My vision went blurry, and I struggled to keep focus, to no avail. For no reason I laughed out loud, not stopping even when I fell to the floor on my right side. Things that shouldn't be here appeared in my line of vision. The sail seemed to have a face. A large bright pink rabbit dressed in a suit ran past. Thom was soon next to me, peering into my face but he seemed to have morphed with a cat.

"Lookwathtwawabbit!" I squealed with my words jumbling together, lazily flailing my arm out. Thom suddenly had lifted me up and was shaking me by the shoulders.

"Come on Tory, you got to fight this insanity!" he yelled. I just let my head loll back, and gave another soft laugh. I was released and hit the floor with a _thump_. I watched with my eyes half open as Thom ran with his dagger raised, spouting words I couldn't possibly understand in my state.

Thom

I watched, unmoving, as Tory hit the floor, and suddenly laughing insanely. I immediately rendered my opponent unconscious and rushed to his side. I picked him up by the shoulders but all my shaking had no effect on Tory's state of mind. Dropping him rather carelessly, I rushed with my dagger at 'Black Plague' Kola. I threw all my strength into a punch in my opponents gut. Kola keeled over but didn't fall off his feet. Slowly raising his head he gave me a cruel grin. He plunged his dagger into my right arm and I cried out in pain. I kicked him away, and put my left hand on the wound to try and stop the bleeding. I decided it was time to show my Devil Fruit. I focused on the surroundings, trying to pick up the presence of the souls of animals that had died in the area. I found many fish and bird souls, but no useful animals. I sighed, nearly ruining my focus, and I brought my left hand away from my arm to the pendant around my neck. It was carved into the shape of a wolves face out of a silver stone, and orange crystals as the eyes. In this pendant carried the souls of 100 wolves. '_I need your help, O wise spirits.' _I said mentally to them.

"What are you doing? Praying isn't going to save you. Well, I myself for one, pray to the god of monkeys, Skiffs but…" I ignored and shut Kola out of my head.

'_Why do you need our help? You haven't needed us for so long. What if we refuse?_' the Wolves answered back.

'_Please spirits! My friend is in danger! If I don't stop Kola now, everybody could fall under his influence._' I begged. After several moments of waiting, I thought they were going to refuse, but the Wolves surprised me.

'_Very well, we shall lend you our power. We aren't completely helpless you know._' even though I couldn't actually see them, I knew they were smiling. Focusing on the presence on their souls, I matched it with my soul, and the temperature dropped several degrees. White mist started to form into the bodies of large, white wolves. More than a few people from both sides paused their fights to stare. They leaped at Kola as one, and he could no longer be seen under the mass of Wolves, though his screams were completely clear. After the assault was done, the Wolves moved onto the other Black Water Pirates. Kola was covered in bite marks and bleeding wounds. As I crouched down next to his head, he pulled his long black coat which had fallen off on top of his body. His eyes peeked out from under the hem of his collar, and they no longer had the gleam of insanity.

"I'm guessing you're not insane any more." I stated. His mouth moved a bit, turning into something resembling a grin. Not like the ones from when he was crazy, but a true smile. He slowly closed his eyes.

"Is he dead?" asked somebody from the 8th Division.

"No he's breathing. It's slight, but he's alive." at seeing their captain defeated and no longer under the influence of insanity, the remaining Black Water Pirates fled to their ship after I had called back my the Wolves. When the last soul had gone back to the necklace, blood shot out of my nose but that was remedied with a scrap of cloth from my shirt. Most of my energy had been drained from calling the Wolves, but I had one more job to do. I walked over to Tory, who somehow was still insane even though Kola was unconscious and laid my free hand on his forehead.

Tory

As Thom put his hand on my forehead, I cried out,

"Whaddyadoing!" he ignore my outbursts, which made me all the more confused. In my mind, I suddenly found myself in a white hall. Dark smoke filled the air. I was getting dizzy, and I felt myself falling further to the clutches of insanity. My mind cleared as I felt a strong presence next to me. I found a white wolf at my side, which radiated a comforting aura. He gently took my hand and led me through the place which I realized was a maze. It seemed to go on forever as I was pulled through the stark white halls. The smoke always surrounded us, but my head remained free of its hypnotic trap. Soon I found a brightly lit open doorway, so bright I couldn't see the other side. The wolf let go of my hand and pushed me forward. As I stepped through the light surrounded me and…

My eyes fully opened, and I looked at Thom, who now completely human. He gave me a smile and I quickly sat up and gave him a tight hug. Then he fainted. For a moment I looked at Thom's limp body then turned my attention to the bundled lump that was Kola. Finally I looked around the ocean surrounding the Moby Dick and the Black Water Pirates ship was nowhere to be found.

"What did I miss?" I asked to no specific person.

"Well, Thom used his power and summoned up some ghost wolves, beat Kola and the Black Water Pirates, making them leave, and he brought you back to sanity." answered Mono as he walked up to me, his wounds bandaged.

"Oh. Where's Tami?" I asked, suddenly afraid for my sisters' life.

"She's in the infirmary. Her injuries were nothing the doctors couldn't fix." Mono assured.

"So, now what? Wait, I just realized something. POPS!" I yelled.

"What, brat?" asked Whitebeard in a relaxed tone.

"You didn't help at all!" I complained.

"It didn't seem like you needed it. How would it look if you guys depended completely on me?" he replied. I put on my pout face in return, and everybody laughed at this scenario. I kept pouting as one of the doctors came and took care of my injuries, since really I didn't like being fussed over, like the doc was doing.

"You know, you should really be more careful." he tipped as he finished bandaging my wounds.

\

"I tried my best!" I countered. Looking over to Kola, two doctors were by his side, stitching and wrapping him in layers of bandages. "Has Pops decided what we're going to do with him?" I asked the doc.

"Who?" I gestured with my eyes and he got the picture. "Oh, Kola, Whitebeard said we would either leave him at Water 7 once he recovered, or he could join us. He said your sister was welcome to come, too, along with that girl that used bubbles to attack. They're in the infirmary if you want to see them." I thanked him, pulled on my shirt, and went to the infirmary as said. I opened the door and found Ilea in Tami's lap, who was on her bed braiding Ilea's hair. Tami noticed me in the doorway and gave me a grin.

"Hiya, Tory." exclaimed Ilea and she gave me a wave. I waved back and went to sit at the foot of the bed. "So, have you decided what you're going to do from here?" I questioned Tami.

"Yeah, I have. I decided I have had enough fighting to last me a while. Once you guys get to the next island I'm going to take Ilea and try to start a normal life. You had better visit, Totes."

"Don't call me that." and I took a swat at her. She dodged and swatted me back. Ilea watched the exchange and decided to join in by punching me in the gut. I bent over, holding my stomach. "Totally… Uncalled for." I rasped. Tami burst into laughter.

"You just got beat by a girl, Tory." she said happily. I pouted again. We said our goodbyes and I headed to my room to call it a night. In the morning, I was introduced to a new face.

"This is Fink Ruhr. He was the guy we had to pick up from Water 7." I shook hands with Fink as Leon introduced us to each other. Fink was a tall man around his late 20's. He had bronze skin, golden hair, and yellow eyes. Strangely, he had pointed ears and when we shook hands, I noticed his fingernails were long and looked very sharp. Fink grinned, and I saw that his teeth were white and pointed, like his ears. Right now he was wearing a dark brown and white striped, long-sleeve sweater, along with baggy red pants and black boots. "Fink was raised in the wild by wolves for fifteen years. We found him and took him in. As you can see, he is very civilized now although he still chases the occasional bird." Leon put more emphasis on the last part. Fink released my hand and threw his arms into the air.

"Hey, I can't help it. And anyway, if the dang bird doesn't want to be hunted, then don't just stand there. They literally scream 'EAT ME!'"

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving." I put in.

"Let's get a bite then!" said Fink and the three of us marched to the Dining Hall. After they had eaten, Fink left, saying he had some 'errands' to take care of. He went into the room he shared, reached into his chest but first looked around to make sure nobody was around. Then he pulled out a Den-Den Mushi and dialed in a number.

"Hello is this Officer McKinley?" he said into the receiver.

"McKinley speaking. I presume everything is in place for the plan, Fink?" said the man on the line.

"Yes, everything is ready. Soon Whitebeard will be dead. Prepare the Marines." Fink answered, a malicious grin spreading across his face.


	11. Chapter 11

**ichigo1508: Seriously, are you going to keep saying good job?**

**Blade of Hellfire: It's people like you that encourage me to keep updating, no offense ichigo1508.**

**Chapter 11, Fink**

I hung up and went back outside. I had one more thing to do that would be a crucial part of the plan. Officer McKinley would come with his fleet of Marines along with the 'Bounties'. I paused a moment, remembering my first encounter with them.

_~Flashback~_

"The Bounties are a group of the top 15 bounty hunters in all of the Grand Line and the East, West, North, and South Blue. They range in all ages, but all of them are extremely skilled and powerful." McKinley had explained. When I first met him, during the first year I had temporarily left the Whitebeard Pirates, of course I didn't trust him. We met in a bar, but instead of trying to attack me, he started a conversation.

"For those that are powerful, there is always room for corruption. If this was to happen with Whitebeard, millions of people could suffer from his wrath. With the allied islands, he would be unstoppable." he began. I found myself drawn further and further into his story, my grip on my knife loosening. "In order to prevent this, we need someone to keep us informed on their status and help us put our plan into action. We decided you were the perfect person." he pointed a finger at me.

"M-me? Why?" I stammered. I knew I shouldn't listen to him, but what if he was right?

"For several years you lived in the wild, so you know the true beauty of nature." McKinley answered.

"How do you know that?" I asked my voice filled with surprise.

"I know who you truly are. But I don't know how you will react if I told you, so if you can do as I say and Whitebeard is eradicated, you'll prove your will is strong enough to take the truth." the offer was to tempting for me to refuse. From that day, I answered calls from both my crew and Officer McKinley. Whatever I found out about my crew that would prove useful to him I told. At first it was hard to do with my search, but soon I fell into the rhythm of my circle of secrets. Before I reached Water 7, I went with McKinley to see the Bounties. We went on a Marine ship, but I wasn't worried because he said it was safe. I had learned to trust him completely. That was how it went with the wolves, so why not him? It took us a few days to reach the Bounties island. It's supposed to be secret so they couldn't be ambushed, but it seems several marines have ties with some of the members. I was told Sengoku knew nearly everything about them, but it was hard to keep track of them as nearly all members move around a lot. When we landed, I was surprised to find that the island was actually four islands shaped like quarters of a circle so close to each other it was easy to mistake them as one whole island. I nearly missed the lines between the fourths had McKinley not pointed it out. The one we were on was a spring island, the one to our left was fall, the one in front of that was winter, and the last one was spring. Further investigation showed that there was a large building in the middle of the four, as if it was holding the islands together, and there was a smaller one on every section.

"The middle one is where they have meetings, storage rooms, and where the rare guests that come stay. It's also where they have their main prison. The four smaller ones are where the Bounties sleep, eat, and stay when they aren't hunting somebody down. Where they sleep is up to them. Other storage rooms and weapon rooms, plus other things are distributed among them, though each one does have a special purpose." He explained.

"How do you know so much?" I questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"I have my ways." I badgered him for more clues on how he knew as we walked toward the larger building out of the other ones, but he refused to give away any hints on his 'ways'. "The buildings are made of stone, and were originally built by the people who used to live here. After they had left, the buildings were found by the 1st generation of the Bounties, long after the place had been abandoned. Since then this place has served as their base. Now enough speaking, it's time to talk with them." I found we had arrived at the tall stone doors. McKinley went in without knocking.

"Aren't you going to at least knock?" I reminded.

"They already know we're here. Why did you think the gate was unlocked?"

"Oh." we found someone already waiting for us. The 'someone' was a girl that looked around 12 with bright green eyes, fair skin, and jet-black hair that reached the floor. Right now she was wearing a blue and white checkered, sleeveless blouse with knee-length khaki pants.

"Name's Evangeline Brown, Bounty # 13. Call me Eve. You are?" she said casually. I introduced myself first.

"Fink Ruhr, 25 years old, born in Grand Line." I answered automatically.

"I'm Officer McKinley, 38 years old, marine for 20 years." Eve nodded and gestured for us to follow her. We were led through a maze of hallways, many doorways lining the walls. Soon we came close to a pair of tall, heavy, brown stone doors. Yelling could be heard from the other side even though the doors had to be at least 6 inches thick, so we paused a moment.

"…ever call me that again and I'll beat the snot out of ya'!" yelled a girl's voice.

"Like you haven't already, Big Ears!" retorted a boy's voice. Crashing could be heard.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about, Flame Head!" more crashes.

"Hey you two, break it up! We're having visitors, so stop fighting!" scolded a calmer, much more mature woman's voice. Eve knocked loudly, with purposeful slowness several times. "Hold on a minute, just need to step over the mess 8 and 10 made!" called the same woman. We heard some scrabbling and a barely audible _thump_, followed by a few curse words. Then the large doors opened with a very pretty woman that looked around my age. In a moment I had taken in her appearance, which consisted of long, light blonde hair, blue/violet eyes, pale skin, and a black tank top, shorts, and boots. "I'm Ida Deadly, Bounty # 3." she stuck out her hand which both McKinley and I shook. All four of us walked into the large area, which I supposed was a meeting room considering the large round table in the middle of the room and the numerous papers spread across it.

I turned to stare at the two kids near the table wrestling with each other. Rocks and debris was strewn across the floor, and a young man with short, spiky, black hair was trying his best to cover up the holes in the stone wall with pieces of cloth. In one of the chairs around the table sat a middle-aged man who looked a lot like the guy patching up the walls. Propped on the table next to him were silver crutches, and he sat rather limply, his head drooping to the side and a bit of drool was coming from the side of his open mouth. She marched over to the two kids wrestling and pulled them to their feet. She pointed to the boy with red hair that resembled flames and had a bunch of black tattoos. "This is Coy Rocha, Bounty #10," then she pointed to the girl with dirty blonde hair, who, surprisingly had large rabbit ears protruding from beneath her hair, "and this is Brianna Bianca Bunny, Bounty #8. Just to let you know, she ate a Zoan type Devil Fruit, and you can call her Bee for short. And that," this time she pointed to the man with the crutches, "is Yenta Wallis, Bounty #2. He mind is extremely sharp, but he has this disease that effects his nerves so he can't move properly." that explained Yenta's behavior. "Finally, there's Gabion, Yenta's son, Bounty #14. Right now we're the only ones here, as everybody else is somewhere in the Grand Line hunting God knows who, except #15 but he's training in the winter section and is unlikely to come here. Sorry for the inconvenience." Ida apologized.

"It's okay." McKinley replied. "I just need to discuss something with you concerning all the Bounties, but they don't all have to be here."

"What do you want to discuss?" asked Eve.

"Well, it'd be best to do it at the table."

"Okay. Hey, Gabion, get over here and get in your chair!" Ida called to the startled youth. Gabion nervously trotted over to the table and sat down in a chair with 14 painted on the back. Ida, Eve, Coy, and Bee sat in their own chairs with matching numbers. I just stood by McKinley.

"We're planning to take down Whitebeard, but we're going to need the Bounties help." he started.

"I'm supposing by 'help', you want us to fight?" commented Bee.

"All you have to do is take out the Commanders. Everybody else will be knocked out by a drugged spice Fink will implant. The Commanders are too strong to be effected by the drug." he continued.

"We'll have to discuss this with the other Bounties before we make a decision. If #15 would get his butt over to the meeting room, we'd be finished with that in minutes." groaned Coy.

"You know what; I'm going to get him. He's skipped out on enough things." exclaimed Eve. 45 minutes later, she came back pulling a purple haired man with her black hair (yes, hair) rather roughly on the tiled floor.

"Ow, ow, OW!" he snapped as his head hit the floor when he was released. The man sat up, crossing his legs, and rubbed the bump on the back of his head. His attire consisted of a red silk shirt, puffy white pants, and an embroidered black sash with gold thread around his waist. A black shawl was tied around his neck. I couldn't help staring at his eyes. The irises were pale purple, with darker purple rings.

"About time you showed up." interjected Bee.

"Hey, I was in the middle of a viewing session!" he complained. I was confused.

"Viewing session?"

"Well, first, this is Jejune Juror, Bounty #15, and he has this special Paramecia Devil Fruit which lets him do remote viewing, which is seeing a place while he isn't actually there, along with other abilities, like seeing the future and stuff like that." Bee explained, "He doesn't actually fight much, he's more like our secretary and information specialist."

"We need you to call all the other bounties and tell them this." Gabion proceeded to tell him Officer McKinley's plan.

"'Kay, just give me a few minutes." he pulled out a bunch of Den-Den Mushi's from out of his cloak (how did he hide that in there?), carried them to the table, and took his seat next to Gabion. Soon he was talking into all of them at the same time, forwarding the plan. As promised, he finished within a matter of minutes and looked up to everybody at the table. "#1, 4, 5, and 9 are willing to come and are their way here now. #6 is coming, too. But he has to finish off some pirates and turn them in, and he's going to be picked up by #9. #7 and 11 refuse, but #1 is going to drag him here himself." announced Jejune. McKinley nodded in satisfaction.

"Before we leave I have one more question. Is what number you are just a name?" I asked them all.

"No, your number depends on your strength. In fact, #2 used to be #1 before the disease hit. Then the old #2 took his place, and Yenta was demoted to two." Coy answered.

"Who demoted him?"

"#0."

_~End Flashback~_

I opened my eyes, not realizing earlier that I had closed them. How long had I been spaced out? Had anyone noticed? I looked around and nobody seemed to have seen me. Good. I put my hand in my pants pocket, feeling the foreign spice. I headed towards the kitchen, and after handing the spice to the cooks and convincing them to put it in all the food without rousing suspicion, went around the ship noting the positions of all the Commanders in my pocket book, then went back to my cabin to finalize some loose ends. I was thought to be having a day of rest, so nobody would bother me. I grinned to myself, thinking that I was doing 'what was right for the islands'. If only I had been shown wrong right then.


	12. Chapter 12

**ichigo1508: Tell the devils mom I said hi back.**

**Blade of Hellfire: Sorry if it's confusing. For chapter 11 the point of view is Finks. I probably messed up a bit on the chapter. You can tell whose point of view it is by the name that's paired up with the chapter title, and when a random name is pulled out by itself.**

**Chapter 12, Tory**

After meeting Fink, Thatch came up to me.

"Do you need something?" I asked him.

"Well, I don't think you're doing enough work; so…" Thatch pulled a mop and bucket from behind his back. Even before he finished his sentence I knew what job they had planned for me, and as I don't like doing chores, I turned around to get the heck out of there. My escape failed as the back of my shirt was grabbed and I fell on my bottom.

"You aren't getting out of this one," chided Thatch. He pressed the mop and bucket handle into my hands and ran at record speed somewhere else on the ship since I threw the bucket very accurately at him, barely missing his head. I sighed, stalked over to where the dented bucket lay, and went to the wash room to fill the metal pail. After that task had been done, I had to lug the darn thing up to the front deck, and I passed Fink. He seemed to be heading toward the kitchen.

"Hiya, Fink. Got to wash…" I trailed off as he walked right past me, and very rudely so. _What's on his mind? He seemed focused enough earlier,_ I said to myself. Shrugging it off, I trekked the rest of the way to the deck and set the bucket at the base of the first mast, where nobody could tip it over. Dipping the mop in the sloshing water, I proceeded to wash off any dirt, rum, or blood off the wood. Over the time I had been on the ship, I had never noticed how dirty it was. And I had never realized how boring mopping the deck was. To make things worse, it was extremely hot out, as I had also not realized earlier. How is Fink managing a sweater without melting in this weather? I had to find some entertainment while I mopped or else my brain will melt.

Looking around, two men from the 9th Division were drinking and were starting to get drunk, and I watched them for the next thirty minutes. But the effects of the alcohol wore off after that when the rum was taken away, so I paused a moment and leaned on the mop handle and thought about ideas to make this go faster. And I got one. First I dipped the mop into the bucket again, laid it on the floor, changed into my panther form, and then put the handle into my jaws so it was sticking sideways. Tilting my head, I quickly mopped the entire deck within minutes. Changing back to human, I collapsed with my back on the railing, and, without bothering to put the supplies away, went to sleep since the heat had made me rather drowsy.

Mono

After doing my share of chores, I headed to the Dining Hall, and found Fink leaning against the second mast, nervously checking his watch every few seconds. I remember when we had first found him, when I was eight.

_~Flashback~_

After over a month of sailing, we docked at the island of Tyrol. I was so excited to finally be on solid ground again I jumped over the railing of the ship to the sandy ground around the bay the ship was in.

"Hey, Mono, you have got to stop doing that!" called Thom who was still on the deck, high above me.

"Make me! Besides, it isn't that dangerous!" I retorted. Ace jumped down, too, with Thom grumpily tucked under his arm. I turned around to explore the forest that led to the town, but Ace pulled me back by the shoulder, and clipped a baby leash to the back of my shirt. "Really, I have to wear the harness?" I complained.

"We have to have some way to keep you near us," countered Thom, once he had been set down. I crossed my arms to show my anger, but it had no effect as everybody was used to this pose. Other crew members had gotten down from the ship, some jumping like me, others from very long boards. I pointed at the men who had jumped down and said,

"How come they can do it without getting in twouble, but I can't?" I asked.

"Because they've done it a lot of times, and you haven't," Thom answered.

"That's why I have to practice!"

"But your body hasn't finished growing enough yet, so you could damage your health, while our brothers have lived a long time."

"So, they're old farts?"

"Yes, they are old farts."

"Hey!" cried Marco whom we haven't noticed creeping up behind us, and moments later we both had large bumps on our heads where Marco had hit us. I instinctively put my hands on my head and stuck my tongue out at the 1st Commander.

"Marco is a meanie butt!" I shouted so that everybody heard me. Several people turned their heads towards my attacker.

"And he's a Pineapple Head!" added Thom. This caused quite a few laughs.

"Hey!" Marco scolded again, but his voice was still kind.

"Ace-kun, can you cwome with Thom and me into the town?" I pleaded sweetly, giving him my puppy-dog eye face.

"Sure, but what for? I know we need supplies, but somebody else is in charge of that."

"Well, I h'urd there's some wumors on a 'Wolf Boy' that supposedly lives in the fowest."

"Where did you hear that?" Thom asked.

"Well, when we were at the last island, I overh'urd some sailors talking about this place and the topic came up, and I was pwetty cuwious."

"Oh, well, let's go then," said Ace and after a twenty minute walk, we arrived at the edge of the town. I walked up to a middle-aged man running a fruit stand along the bustling road. I heard Ace and Thom talking behind me, but I paid them no mind.

"Hey, Ossan-san, can you tell me about the rumored 'Wolf Boy'?" I asked him.

"Why, hello there, little one. Now why would a boy like you be interested in our rumors?" he questioned.

"'Cause I'm cuwious," I explained.

"Oh! Where are my manners? My name's Hahn-Buda Oahu. And you?"

"I'm Mono. So what do you know about the wolf boy?"

"Well… Some people who hike up in the woods at night sometimes return with a person missing, and if they don't, _something_ has at least gone through their stuff. Also, sometimes howling can be heard. And if they're lucky, they'll catch a glimpse of a boy's shadow."

"Hm, well, bye Ossan-san!" I thanked him and turned back to Ace and Thom, though they were almost right behind me since the leash wasn't that long.

"Got what you need, squirt?" questioned Ace.

"Yeah, and don't call me squiwt." I replied. As we walked back to where our ship was docked, something rustled in the bushed next to me along the path, and I turned my head in time to see a flash of yellow eyes, than another rustle as whatever it was fled speedily.

"Whoa! Did you guys see that?" I exclaimed.

"Yep, I did. Guess the 'Wolf Boy' legend is true, after all." said Thom with his mouth hanging open a little.

"Hey guys, at this rate we're never going to make it there in time for lunch!" commented Ace, and before we could protest, we found ourselves tucked under his arms while he bolted to the bay. When we arrived lunch was already being prepared, so Ace let us down and we followed him to a shady spot near the trees. Digging in, I heard another mysterious rustle behind me and the yellow eyes were staring right at me. Thom and Ace turned their heads to see what the problem was, but I silently gestured them to look away. The eyes followed my every move, unblinking.

"You want something to eat?" I whispered. Without thinking much about what I was doing, I took the chicken leg from my plate and raised it to the stranger. My hand shot back as the 'thing' bit my hand extremely hard, but releasing quickly, and in a flurry Ace had kicked it out of the shadows, and everybody in the clearing stared as a bronze-skinned, blonde haired boy stumbled to his feet where he landed. He had to be the rumored 'Wolf Boy'. Seemed Marco knew it, too.

"So you're the Wolf Boy?" he inquired. The boy simply growled viciously at him, and now I could get a good look at the Wolf Boy. He was rather skinny and he was rather dirty. But he did quite resemble a wolf, with his pointed ears, sharp nails, plus pointed teeth. All he wore was some old, tattered, shorts that might have been white sometime in the past. Suddenly he leaped at me, pushing me to the ground and he bared his teeth, eyes trained on my neck. Before he could bite me, though, the sound of a gunshot rang out. The Wolf Boy howled in pain and his body fell to the ground next to me, breathing heavily and blood spurting from his shoulder. For a moment nobody moved.

"Well, are we just going to let him bleed to death?" said Ace, breaking the silence. "Hey doc, get over here!" one of our doctors crouched down next to the boys limp body, and pulled out some pliers from his suitcase full of medical equipment. I recognized him as Aero Shah, who had patched up my head when I cut myself playing with somebody's sword. Even now I think; _if you don't want me to play with knives, don't leave them out in the open!_

"Thom, come over here and help me held him down in case he struggles. Mono, could you get me a branch, so I can put it in his mouth for him to bite down on it?" we both obeyed, and Thom held down the Wolf Boys arms while I located a short, but reasonably sized branch and handed it to Aero, who then pushed it into his patients mouth. He wrapped his left arm around the head, and pushed the pliers into the bullet wound. The branch splintered as the boy bit down hard, but he did not scream. He also thrashed around, but Thom was there to handle that. Once the bullet had been pulled out the flow of blood increased, and many cloths were soiled with the crimson liquid before it had lessened enough to allow the hole to be stitched. After it had been bandaged, Aero flipped the Wolf Boy onto his back and stood up.

"So what are we going to do with him?" he asked everybody.

"That's for Pops to decide, and he's still on deck since the nurses needed to make another check-up," said Marco.

"What's this about me?" boomed a voice from the ship. We watched Whitebeard jump down from the 'Moby Dick' and land on the ground, the impact debris to fly through the air. He straightened himself and his eyes rested on the Wolf Boy, who I had just realized was still awake and sat up, crossing his legs, and right now was staring back at Whitebeards towering figure. "Who's this?" Pops asked.

"We don't know his name. On the island he's just called 'Wolf Boy'. Before now it doesn't seem like anybody has seen him out in the open." I responded, since I was the only one who had actually asked somebody from the town. "He seems to behave mostly like a wolf, as he tried to attack me and even bit me earlier," I exclaimed, raising my hand, which had stopped bleeding. Whitebeard raised an eyebrow.

"What do you think we should do with him, Pops?" asked Marco. Whitebeard turned toward him, but Wolf Boy took that as an opening, and he leaped at Whitebeard, claws bared. He was quickly knocked back to the ground, a new cut on his chest where captain's _bisento _had made contact_._

"I guess we take him on the ship, then."


	13. Chapter 13

**ichigo1508: Yes, I suppose he is. Just don't forget Fink and Wolf Boy is one and the same.**

**Blade of Hellfire: I am thankful for your compliments. Wait, he tries to attack everybody and you say he's cute? I don't have a problem with that, but…**

**Chapter 13, Fink (Or Wolf Boy, if your prefer)**

My eyes opened and I was blinded a moment from the sunlight. Where was I? This looked nothing like my den in the cave. The meeting with those men came back to me, and I turned and groaned into the pillow, half from my situation, and half from the pain of moving due to the wound on my chest. I heard a door opening and I growled in that direction. I narrowed my eyes when I recognized that man who took care of that wound in my shoulder. He may have helped me, but I was still suspicious.

"It's nice to see you, too." he said. I relaxed the tiniest bit when I heard the calm in his voice, but still, I didn't let my guard down. Slowly he approached me, and I hissed at the metal tray in his hand. Once he was by my side he pulled out a stool and sat down. I retreated under the thick blankets. "Come on, there's no need to be so hostile." he advised, muffled a bit because of the covers over my head. I pulled the covers from over my face so I could watch his every move. The man pressed a cup near my face and once more I sneaked back under my shelter. "If you don't drink this, you won't get better." in reply I lashed out and bit his hand, causing him to drop the cup, the contents spilling onto the floor. I released his hand from my jaws and slinked back under the covers to go back to sleep. The man was swearing softly, but for some reason it didn't seem the anger wasn't all directed at me.

Upon waking up this time, I found myself held fast to the bed with several lengths of rope. I tried to bite through the coil closest to my mouth, but my teeth weren't sharp enough for that. Shifting around, I tried to get comfortable but the ropes were tied very tight, almost to the point where it hurt. Hearing a clinking sound to my left, I turned my head to find a bag full of liquid on a metal stand, with a tube leading from the bag ending in a needle in my arm, which was covered with a bandage. The door opened again only this time I didn't bother to see who it was. Heck lot of good that information would do me now, I was a sitting duck!

The visitor strode with a determined rhythm, and I averted my eyes, instead finding a boy around my age with white hair and brown skin. His eyes were orange with speckles of brown, and I couldn't help but stare. The boy stared back, a frown on his face. He took a cup from the small table next to me and I realized the man from earlier, whom I had bitten, must have made another batch of whatever he wanted me to digest. Hardly having time to widen my eyes he jammed the cup, but only the rim, in my mouth, and I gagged a bit before I was forced to swallow in order to prevent myself from choking. In truth it wasn't that bad, just a bit too much herbs for my taste.

The brown-skinned boy yanked out the cup from my mouth (actually it almost hurt my teeth) and set it back on the table. Then he turned around to leave, and when he was out the door I gave him a raspberry. For some reason this stopped him in his tracks and he looked in my direction. He crossed his arms and blew a raspberry back at me. Afterwards he gave me a toothy grin.

"Name's Thom, Thom Limon. I would ask for yours but-." he began.

"Fink, my name is Fink." I interrupted, pronouncing the words slowly since I didn't speak often and my words would probably get smashed together. If Thom was surprised, he was doing a good job of hiding it.

"Fink? That's a nice change of tune from 'Wolf Boy'." Thom teased. I couldn't hold myself back and grinned back at him. But quickly I remembered my situation and changed my expression to a scowl. This made Thom frown again, and he turned back around to leave. I was afraid I had just ruined my chance of making friends, but my hopes were boosted when he gave me a small wave before he closed the door. For a few minutes I just stared at the wooden slab, and then ducked my face into the ruffled sheets, the rope pressing against my chin through the fabric._ I thought everybody was just as bad as _him_. But why was that boy nice to me even though I bit his friend?_ I thought to myself. Might as well sleep it off. Again.

_This_ time upon waking up, the guy who kicked me on the island (was I still there?) was peering down at me, and since the pressure of the ropes were missing, I tired attacking him with my claws. That failed when he just pushed me away and kept me an arms length away, my arms feebly trying to get him to release me. Ace just went on chatting with Thom, who happened to be standing next to him.

"So he said his name's Fink?" the guy asked Thom.

"Yeah, at least, I hope that's his name, but I'm pretty amazed he remembered it after being called 'Wolf Boy' for, what, like years?" Thom answered, still completely ignoring me.

"I can understand ou, you knaw. And I wassawnt raised by woofs." I broke in, messing up a few words.

"Really, and you actually do talk?" the guy replied.

"Did you think I was lying or something, Ace?" fumed Thom as he punched the guy in the arm.

"And why wonnont I?" I retorted.

"W-well, since you were, um, hey! I just remembered we brought some clothes for you!" Ace exclaimed picking up a bundle at the foot of my bed which I had failed to notice. He tossed it to me whom I caught and I gave him a glare while I went through the items of clothing.

"You're just trying to get out of answering us!" accused Thom. They began to argue, which made Ace seem pretty immature for his age, and I tuned out their bickering. I held a white sweater, boxers (thankfully rather new), khaki shorts, and strangely (for a pirate at least) a pair of gray socks. I held them up to show Thom and gave him a look that said, _since when do pirates wear socks?_ In return he gave me a look that answered, _what about it?_ I pulled the covers over my head and changed under the sheets, and I wondered why I trusted these two enough to believe they didn't put explosives in the clothes or something. When that task had been finished, I climbed to the floor, and waited a moment as the blood rushed to my head, then looked up at Ace.

"Well what naw?" I asked him.

"Now, since Pops has decided to keep you on the ship, we find you something to eat and _properly_ meet Whitebeard." Ace informed and they led me to what either could be my impending doom, or the start of a new life. What ended up happening was this: I met Whitebeard who everybody on the crew called Pops, got something to eat, which Ace tried to steal some of, but of course I tried to punch him, somehow getting burned and having to see the doctor, who was Aero who had forgiven me, and somehow I was now unofficially the official adopted son of Aero Ruhr, making me Fink Ruhr from now on.

_~End Flashback~_

Mono

After that day Fink eventually blended in with the rest of the crew, and most of his animal habits were gone, although occasionally he would give in and chase a bird or cat. We found out he had not been raised by wolves, and instead had developed his behavior by himself. But 8 years after that day, Aero had mysteriously disappeared, and Fink went to search for him, refusing help from anybody. When he came back to the ship, he told me his findings.

"Aero caught a disease, so he left as not to worry us. He spent the last 8 years searching for a cure, but never found it. I found him in Water 7, and I was at his side when he died. I wanted to bury him somewhere proper, but I had to settle for the Water 7 cemetery, as I could get into heaps of trouble dragging around a corpse." Fink had explained with the sadness evident in his eyes. Though it was not official, Fink had been Aero's only son. I walked up to Fink, and he jumped when I put my hand on his shoulder from behind. He turned and relaxed when he saw it was me.

"What are you so nervous about?" I asked him.

"Oh, it's nothing." I raised an eyebrow but questioned him no more. I said goodbye and left for lunch. While I ate I noticed it tasted kind've funny. The cooks told me it was something Fink suggested, which made me suspicious, though I didn't tell anybody. About an hour later, while I was lying on my bed reading, I knew Fink had done something as my vision blurred and I began to feel drowsy. I made a break for the door and headed to the bathroom, where as I made I barf. This had to be the work of the thing Fink had given the cooks.

Once I had wiped my mouth all my drowsiness was gone and I rushed up deck, where some of the other men were also feeling the effects, some already asleep. All except Fink, of course, whose smug smile went unnoticed by the Commanders who also weren't affected by the spice? Some were preoccupied trying to wake up their comrades. I stomped to Fink and slapped him across the face.

"This has to be your fault! What are you planning?" I yelled at him.

"What's right for the islands." he answered innocently. I socked him in the jaw.

"What exactly are you talking about?" I asked, trying to keep in my anger.

"It's too late for explanations, as the plan had already been put into action." Fink quoted.

"What plan?" he pointed to the ocean on our left, and saw a huge fleet a marine ships in the distance, along with a foreign one which I recognized with horror. Not only were the Marines here, but so were the Bounties, a pirates worst nightmare.

"Why, Fink, why?" I grabbed his shirt and pulled him up so we were face-to-face.

"Officer McKinley told me that for everybody there is room for corruption. It would be devastating if that person was like Whitebeard!" he countered. I slapped him again, and his cheek was starting to get bruised.

"Pops took you in! How could you betray him like this?"

"One of his ways of manipulation. Officer McKinley taught-."

"Officer McKinley was decommissioned years ago!" I interrupted. Finks eyes widened as the full realization of what he had taken part in hit him.

"What have I done?" he whispered, his voice barely audible. I dropped him, and he just sat there, looking into space.

"The time for regret has passed, now is the time for justice." I remarked and left him there to move my unconscious _nakama_ somewhere safe on the ship. One of our doctors had his bag with him, so I opened it and rummaged around for a drug that made you barf. I found it, and moved the doctor below deck. I moved to those still awake and helped them get the spice out of their system as they bent over the ships railing. We were going to need all the hands we could get if we were going to fight the Bounties. One man was taking a while to recover, and I still had other people to move. Then Fink was next to me, and he grinned. I grinned back and moved on.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14, Tory**

Waking up, I looked around to find most of my crew mates unconscious. Mono was trying to wake them up, to no avail. So were the Commanders, and several of them kept casting glances to the horizon behind me. I turned around, and the sight of a large fleet of Marine ships along with a one that neither had a Jolly Roger nor a Marine flag met my eyes. Standing up, I walked over to Mono.

"Hey, what happened?" I asked him.

"Fink was tricked by a decommissioned officer to give a drugged spice to the cooks. The officer, whose name is McKinley, by the way, also called the Bounties. You probably know who they are," Mono answered.

"Yeah, in fact when they were finding someone to take one of the positions, I was one of the chosen ones, but somebody else took the spot." I inquired.

"You must have been one heck of a bounty hunter. Did you meet any of them?" he questioned.

"Only Bounty #15, Jejune Juror. He was kind of creepy, like he was staring into my soul."

"You're lucky you met one of them and didn't die. Most people who see them face-to-face will usually be arrested."

"Well, now we're going to meet the rest of them. But how did I not get drugged?"

"You must have missed lunch." I helped move everybody else that was unconscious below deck, and I went to the infirmary to call on my sister, Ilea, and Kola. They would be a huge asset to the battle, since it did not seem like they had eaten yet. By the time they had gotten their weapons and we arrived back on the deck, the ships had already surrounded us. The Bounties ship was the closest. From my vantage point I could see the name, 'The Hundred Bounty', painted on the side of the ship. One boy with red hair and multitudes of black tattoos stepped on the figurehead so he was so close I could attack him right now.

"Coy Rocha, Bounty #10." I heard Tami whisper under her breath. Then Coy spoke loudly enough so everyone could hear.

"Gentleman, you can surrender now, but I guess you won't do that," he said.

"You guessed right!" shouted Mono.

"Very well, why don't we take this fight to dry land?" he suggested, "There's a deserted island only about a mile form here. It will make the perfect battlefield. And there are certain rules to this fight."

"Well take your offer about changing the playing field, but first explain these rules." demanded Whitebeard. He had gotten up from his throne and was now facing Coy.

"First, you will fight #0, but that will be last. You must do one-on-one rounds, and both sides must agree on their opponent. And it seems more people are unaffected from the drug than expected. So how about anybody besides you and the Commanders will fight McKinley's army here, and we'll go on from there. Sound fair enough? And you better hurry, or in 2 hours that drug will leave your crew in comas for the rest of their lives unless you get the cure from us. Sound fair enough?" asked the boy.

"You demon!" hissed Ace.

"Actually, I do hold a demon in my body, the demon 'Kakos' to be exact. And it was not my decision, but McKinley's. If it had been up to the Bounties, we would have preferred to fight fairly."

"Then why are you helping him?"

"Well, most of the Bounties wanted to join McKinley, as we do enjoy something different from out regular schedule of bounty hunting, even if he is no longer officially part of the Marines. But even our votes don't matter if #0 wants to, which he does. And another thing which I got to mention, several fights will be going on at once, since the island _is_ rather large, and nobody will be allowed to be around those fights except the fighter. We don't want anyone losing and then killed, so try to stop fighting if your opponent is rendered unable to continue. Everybody else will have to wait on the ships. Those fighting the Marines will be doing it on the boats. Also, you must win one fight with each opponent if you want the antidote. If a commander is defeated, somebody else can fight that battle as a replacement. Now enough talking, let's get to the island." Coy finished. The Moby Dick followed the Hundred Bounty to an island, which was quite large, and did look deserted. Another member of the Bounties spoke, this time a nervous-looking young man.

"I-I'm Gabion W-Wallis, Bounty #14. N-now that w-we are docked; l-let's start. M-McKinley w-will fights someone, s-since the B-Bounties only have 16 people, and c-combined with W-Whitebeard, you g-guys have 17 people f-fighting us Bounties. The C-Commanders can choose where y-you want to fight, b-but please make s-sure that you are a distance apart." Gabion stammered. As said, four of our commanders got off the ship, along with four people from the Bounties, including Officer, or should I say Ex-Officer McKinley from one of the Marine battleships.

The three Bounties were Coy, a girl with long black hair, and a man in a wheelchair that was being pushed by the girl. Gabion was about to talk again, until a lady with long blonde hair came up to him on their ship and whispered something in his ear. He nodded, and the lady hurried back under the deck. "O-on second thought, #0 had decided only your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and W-Whitebeard, of course, w-will be t-the only ones f-fighting, plus he asks for someone named T-Tory Yokomoto." He announced. I was shocked that I was asked to fight.

"What does this #0 want with Tory?" asked Mono.

"T-That is unknown." Gabion squeaked. How did this guy become part of the Bounties? I walked down to the shore of the island along with the called Commanders. Whitebeard remained onboard the ship and sat down in his throne. Two more people from the Hundred Bounty stood next to their friends.

This time a young teenage fisherman with long red hair and an extremely tall man with powder blue hair came out of the ship. "U-until the fights are o-over, please b-be patient and w-wait." #14 rambled on. 20 minutes later, I found myself in front of Coy Rocha in a clearing somewhere in the forest on the island. I slipped my sword out of its sheath and raised it fearlessly. I could hear the fights of the other Commanders starting. Back where the ships were docked, I knew the battle between the McKinley's fleet and my other comrades had started as well.

"If you beat me, I'll tell you about the boss." said Coy.

"I'm guessing that's #0." I assumed.

"Yeah, it is. For now I'll tell you that he's a mystery to us all. He has never lost a fight. Only #1, 2, and 3 has seen him."

"Really?" I asked. I took in his full appearance. One thing that kind of creeped me out was that his tattoos were _moving_. It was like they were alive. Right now he was wearing a light tan west, the ones with large pockets in the front and is thick. His pants were also light tan, with a green sash tied around his waist. For shoes, well, he wasn't wearing any.

"Yep, now let's get on with this fight." he rushed at me, and one of his tattoos lifted from his skin and sharpened into a spear, which I barely blocked, inches from my face. I forced him to jump back, and I jumped into the air, bringing down my sword which was aimed for his shoulder. He dodged it and his spear changed into a snake. The snake extended and bit my waist as I couldn't dodge in the air. I gasped as its jaws squeezed the air out of me, then I was thrown against the trees surrounding us. I slid down onto my feet and I brought a hand to one of the injuries the snakes fangs had made. It wasn't bleeding too badly, though, so I would be fine as long I got it treated later. That is if I lived to see a doctor, anyway.

"Interesting ability you got there." I panted.

"Thanks. I got it due to Kakos being in my body. But it also got me put in Impel Down for two years, too. I didn't even do anything." he said with a scowl.

"Now I feel sorry for you." I commented. This seemed to make him angry, as he formed a sword in his hand and swung it at me. I jumped away; the tree which I had been leaning against was cleanly sliced by Coy's blade.

"You have no right to say that!" he screeched. As he tried to hit me again, I brought my sword up to meet his. For a second the sound of metal on metal echoed around us, and then we both jumped to opposite sides of the clearing, breathing heavily.

"You don't know what I suffered for this, this, curse!" he yelled again.

"All I said was sorry." I defended myself. My words made him use his markings to make three black snakes sprout from his back. All three bared their fangs and attacked. I jumped up brought my sword on one of the thick necks, slicing off the head. It fell to the ground and melted into a lifeless lump, the energy which my opponents remaining marks had. When I had severed his snake, Coy brought a hand to his forehead like he had a headache.

"That all you got?" I teased him. He glared at me from between his fingers.

"Not even close." Coy hissed. A long tail creeped up to his side, and lots of spikes appeared at the end. He shot them at me, creating a shower of stakes. There was no way I could dodge them. I raised my sword and wrapped my other had around my face, hoping for the best. The pain I expected never came. I cracked open an eye and looked around. I opened the other one and set down my arms. All the spikes, by some stroke of luck, had completely missed. I laughed out loud. Coy was fuming.

"How the heck did you not get hit?" he growled.

"Looks like the gods are looking after me." I replied.

"What gods? If there were any they wouldn't have let me be born like this!" he shouted, the anger rising in his voice. Wow, he must really hate his life. He lifted his arm, palm out, and the spikes around me began to quiver. In moments they were all hissing snakes. I changed into my panther hybrid form, and jumped very high into the air right as the snakes striked where I had been recently standing. When I began to fall, I put both hands around my swords handle so the flat side was parallel to the ground. Twisting my body, I began to spin around blindingly fast. The result was hundred of air slices spread out, cutting up all the snakes. Using my hands I landed, which wasn't really a smart move, but oh well, and hopped to my feet. My shoes made a squelching sound ad the ground was covered in goo. My tongue stuck out in disgust. Coy didn't notice because he fell to the ground and landed on his side, covered in bleeding cuts. For a moment I stood where I was, in case it was a trick to get me to lower my guard. But he made no move to attack, so warily I walked next to him. His breaths were heavy, and his skin was deathly pale. There wasn't many tattoos left on his skin, and the remaining ones were still. I looked at his face and his eyes were full of tears and fear.

"Kill me." he begged.

"Uh-uh. No way. You're the one who said not to kill your opponent." I reminded Coy.

"Oh yeah, I did say that. You know, I can't believe anyone can suffer that much by the hands of the Marines. I thought they were supposed to be the good guys. Right now I can't help remember the time I spent in Impel Down. It was horrible."

"I would expect that. It seems I've won, since you're rendered unable to continue." I went on.

"I can still, argh, fight." Coy groaned as he tried to stand up, but instantly fell back down.

"You were saying?" I mused and stooped down to pick him up in my arms. He tried to resist but in the end he gave up and I trekked back to where the ships were.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15, Ace**

I was fighting my opponent on the mountains on the island. This island even had a desert area! Anyway, the man I was fighting had powder blue hair, and his face betrayed no emotion.

"So which Bounty are you?" I asked.

"Regan Zurich, Bounty #1." he said in a neutral voice.

"#1, huh? Let's see how tough you really are." I challenged. I fired bullets of fire, and he ran so quick I could barely react when he kicked me, but of course his leg went through me, although I felt a bit weakened. Regan jumped back, and his pants leg had burned up, but his leg was perfectly fine. "How are you not burned?" I questioned Regan. The moment the words left my lips I barely jumped out of the way fast enough to avoid a wave of water. I looked at him as the water shifted back to into his hand.

"I ate the Aqua-Aqua fruit, a Logia type." he answered, once again with no emotion. Raising his hand, palm out, a flurry of water spikes flew toward me. Using my fire I caused them to evaporate.

"Can't you drown yourself?"

"No, that's only in saltwater, and when I change my body, my lungs change into water too so I can't drown. But I can drown other people, and that's why I can even beat Devil Fruit users like you." said Regan. To prove his point he changed his entire body and rushed to drown me in the cursed water. He wasn't going to beat me that easily. I evaporated a hole in the wall and jumped through before the hole could be reformed. Regan changed back, turning around as he did to face me. "You're the second person to be able to escape my **Orb of Death**." he commented.

"Thanks. Who's the first?" I conversed as I threw a huge ball of fire at him, which he missed by changing his lower body and gliding close to the ground. Agilely he rushed to my feet and shot several spikes at my chest, which of course I dodged.

"The first person to escape my orb, along with beating me, is someone called Blood." he said blatantly. Who was Blood?

"How did you get to meet him, anyway?" I said.

"Well, I didn't have much control over my powers when I was a kid, and some pirates came to my town. I tried fighting them but I got beat up, and they were about to kill everybody until suddenly this guy swoops in and instead the pirates got beat up. I demanded a fight, and during his stay he trained me. There was this blue-haired kid with him, too. His name was Kiry Korototo or something like that. He didn't talk much and he was always running errands for Blood while he trained me, so we didn't get to know each other very well."

_~Flashback~_

I watched the pirates dock at our harbor from my hidden spot in the alley between 'Dukes Books' and 'Yens Groceries'. I recognized the man that stepped out first as 'Chui Zedong, bounty of 23,000,000 Beris'. He was the captain of the Sun Bear Pirates. He sure looked like a sun bear with his black trench coat and yellow shirt. A fur cap sat on his head, despite the weather which was scorching. But thanks to my powers, I could stay cool enough.

"_If I beat this guy, they would have to let me in the Marines!_" I thought to myself. My determination lasted until I heard the gunshots. Huddling into a ball I hid in the alleyway and watched the Sun Bear Pirates run past, guns with the triggers pulled back, swords unsheathed and raised. To me they all looked insane, with their eyes wide and full of bloodlust. I could hear screaming and pleas of mercy from the victims of the pirates already further in the town. Chui took up the rear of the group of pirates, striding like he didn't have a care in the world. Then I looked into his eyes, and I saw the bloodlust, just like his crew, only much, much, fiercer. And beneath it, something else: blankness. Beneath that killing intent was nothing, no emotion at all. Quite different from the rest of his face, which was curled into horribly amused grin. Then he turned ever so slightly that I almost missed the movement, and then I froze, because when he did, he _winked_ at me. Then he disappeared, for my view was blocked by the wall.

Once I was sure he was far from me, I took out the dagger at my side and rushed into the action. The square was a bunch of bloody bodies, some still breathing but painfully. These guys weren't stealing, they were just killing relentlessly! This was proven when a nearby pirate who had not noticed me (no one had) stabbed a lady wearing a pearl necklace and just let her drop onto the stone ground. I filled with fury and, jumping up, I stabbed the man in the back of the chest then pushed his limp body to the side while it fell. Looking down at the now dead lady I reached down and closed her eyes. Then I rushed to the next opponent, a lanky young guy with brown hair. He fought with absolutely no skill whatsoever, his attacks all power. Easily I dodged every one of his punches, reached my hand up to his face and turned my hand into water.

He fell down, but I kept the water around his mouth and nose until he passed out, and then turned around to find myself facing the captain, barely blocking his sword with my pitiful dagger.

"Interesting ability you got." Chui breathed.

"Too bad everybody thinks I'm a nuisance now." I snarled. When he heard my words his eyes were replaced with sadness, and his features softened a bit. Chui leaned forward, close to my ear, and whispered,

"We're the same." I kicked him in the stomach and jumped back.

"What do you mean?" I demanded. He just laughed softly as he lowered his sword a bit.

"My parents were thought to be witches and they were killed when I was about 4. They took pity on me but the orphanage was so horrible I ran away. I wanted to leave the whole island but I was unable to board a boat. So I had to steal, and my situation got worse when I got my Devil Fruit. An old lady would usually help me often, even though she would suffer the townspeople's insults. Then she was killed and I killed a pirate captain and took over his ship." I narrowed my eyes and launched dozen of water arrows at him. If water was blasted at a certain speed, it could cut through even metal. He barely moved, several spikes grazing his body but nothing too serious.

"I'm nothing like you." I hissed.

"Oh? Well, that's your decision I suppose." he said. His casual tone annoyed me, causing me to lower my guard so I didn't feel the presence of someone behind me as the cold touch of metal was clamped around my wrist. I felt my energy be drained, and I tried turning into water, but it was no use for the cuff was sea stone. I spun around to see the lanky guy from earlier. How did he get back up so fast? With my power nullified and my reflexes dulled, I could do nothing as his kick sent me flying across the square. My body slid a bit, and Chui walked over and pressed a foot on my chest, preventing me from getting up.

"Keep up this behavior and I'll kill you and everybody else in this sorry excuse for a town!" Chui threatened.

"You scum!" I spat at him and winced as he put more pressure on my chest, making it hard for me to breathe. All the emotion in his eyes disappeared, replaced by his previous emptiness, only without the bloodlust. He pointed his sword at my heart and prepared to stab me. Suddenly blood burst from his neck, and he made a startled gurgling sound before he fell backward.

"Captain!" cried one of his subordinates, but he also fell down, a large cut on his back. A man stood behind him, his head wrapped in a cloth showing his spiky black hair. He radiated power, although the shirt he wore ruined the mood as it said 'My Kid's a Brat'. Though what kid? Five men rushed up behind him, and I shouted a warning, but in the end I needn't had, for they were quickly defeated. It was not by the hand of the man, but a frail-looking boy in a fighting stance, sword bared. His skin was pale, his hair blue, and his clothes looked large on him even though they probably wouldn't fit me, and seemed to be younger than me by a few years.

"Let's go, boy." the man ordered, but kindly.

"Yes, sensei." the boy replied. He must be the apprentice of the man. While I looked on in awe, they took out the rest of the Sun Bear Pirates within moments, the man so fast he was just a blur, but the small boy just took them out with the moves of a beginner. Once they were finished, they walked over to me.

"So who are you?" the man asked.

"Depends on who's asking." I retorted.

"I save your butt, and that's how you talk to me?" he replied.

"Well, may I speak Blood-san?" the boy spoke to his sensei.

"Yes you may, Toto." Blood answered. This guys name was Blood? And what about the boy, was Toto his real name or just a nickname?

"Um, well, I would expect him to, um, not trust us as, err, we just suddenly came out and took out all those men, including Chui Zedong. So, um, I wouldn't blame him." Toto said so softly I could barely hear him. This showed that he was rather shy, but considerate of others.

"You know what, Toto?" Blood asked.

"Know w-what?" Toto yelped.

"You're completely right!" he nearly yelled and laughed at an equal volume.

"I-I am?" Bloods apprentice squeaked.

"Yeah, and we should properly introduce ourselves. I am Blood, a swordsman. And this is..." Blood gestured to the small boy.

"I-I am Bloods apprentice, Tory Yokomoto, but you can call me anything you like, anything but Toto." Tory said. His voice was slightly louder and more confident this time. He shyly put up his hand to shake. I shook it gently.

"I'm Regan Zurich, Devil Fruit user and street orphan." I said.

"Devil Fruit?" Blood echoed.

"Y-yeah, I ate the Aqua-Aqua Fruit, though I'm not that trained with it, yet." I stammered.

"Cool!" Tory exclaimed, and then clamped his hands over his mouth.

"Thanks!" I answered, and the younger boy cracked a small smile.

"Now, do you know any good inns?"

"Uh-huh, follow me." I led the duo to 'Kristine's Inn', the best inn in town. The owner, Kristen, and I were very good friends, even though everybody else in town thought I was annoying and a pest. We walked up to the front desk, where a woman with short brown hair was writing something down in a thick book.

"Oh, Regan, thank goodness you're okay! When I heard about the pirates, I knew you would try to fight them." She said, quite relieved. She eyed the two behind me.

"You don't need to worry about me so much, Makita," I whined with a pout, "These two are Blood and his apprentice, Tory." I turned to them.

"This is my good friend, Makita. She's the cousin of the owner of this place, whom I am also good friends with. Makita's kind of like my stand-in mother." I explained.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Makita." said Blood. He gave Tory a small glance, since he had taken to clinging to the back of Bloods legs.

"Hello, I am Tory Yokomoto." he whispered, poking his head to the side a bit so Makita could see him. Blood bent down to pick Tory up, and then set him in front of him, so he was nervously standing by me.

"Kyaa, you're so cute!" cried Makita. _Woman_, I thought. Instantly Tory darted behind me.

"Could we get a room please, miss?" Blood asked.

"Yes. Hold on a second." Makita asked. She wrote down their names in the thick book, then handed Blood a key with a card attached. "Your room is B13. It's on the second level, so you have to take the elevator, and then take a left from there."

"That's next to my room!" I made known.

"You live here? I thought you were an orphan, no offense." asked Blood with a frown.

"Well, since I'm good friends with the owner, she lets me live here."

"Lucky." breathed Tory, who was still behind me. I looked over my shoulder and gave him a grin, which he returned.

"What are we waiting for? Come on!" prompted Blood as he marched on ahead of us, and we chased after him.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16, Regan**

As soon as we had reached our floor, we had said our goodbyes and I stepped into my room. My room was rather small, but large enough to accommodate my needs. Kristine had taken me in around three years ago, when I tried to mug her during her stroll through town. I didn't have my Devil Fruit back then, so I was defeated quite easily, since one, she was older and naturally stronger than me, and two, she also happens to be a master of karate. But instead of taking me to the police, she brought me to the inn she ran. There she fed me, gave me some old, but reasonably sized clothes, though I still have no idea whose they were, and let me stay the night in one of the small storage room which she had fixed up a bit. The day after that she made me promise no to steal from innocent people, and as long as I followed this promise, I would be allowed to stay in the inn for free. Some of the employees here grew quite fond of me, despite my nasty reputation, and spent their spare time teaching me and abundance of things. During the day when everybody was busy, Makita would keep an eye on me since she was always at the reception desk, where I would usually hide to pass the time.

Since that time, everything was moved out of the storage room, and a bed was placed in one far corner with a lamp on the ground beside it, a dresser in the back right, a desk in the front left, and shelf in the last corner. A rug covered the entire floor, and the walls had been painted a light green color. A window was in the wall between the bed and the dresser. I used the bathroom in Kristine's room, as she lived in her own inn, in room B1. Looking out the window, I saw it was quite late, something I had not noticed before when I had met Blood and his apprentice. Now that I think about it, they didn't seem to have any luggage, other than their clothes and swords. Did they not bring any belongings? This was pretty suspicious, but my thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my door.

"Hey Regan, this is Blood. Could I ask you for a favor real quick?" Blood called through the wood of the door. I turned around and opened my door, with Blood standing there with a hand on Tory's shoulder, and said person had changed into pajamas. Wait, how did he have clothes to change into? Then I remembered he had had a small pack on his back earlier.

"What do you need?" I asked.

"Well, I need to pick up our bags, so I need you to keep an eye on Tory." he answered.

"No offense to you, Tory, but do you not trust him, Blood?" I questioned.

"I trust him completely, it's just that he's pretty timid, and he could get scared easily. So someone could trick him into something bad." Blood explained.

"Oh, if that's he case, then of course I can watch him." I replied.

"Thanks a ton, Regan." he said and in a moment he was gone, leaving me with his shy student.

"Come on in." I coaxed to the younger boy. Hesitantly he stepped inside, and I shut the door. While he examined my room, I strode over and sat down on the bed, and then gestured him to join me. Slowly he stepped over and sat next to me on my blue covers. "So, how long have you been Bloods apprentice?" I began, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Around one year." Tory said as usual in his soft voice.

"'Kay, so what are you guys doing on this island?" I continued.

"Blood-san travels a lot, mostly just for experience and the pleasure of traveling, and sometimes to visit friends. One of Masters former students live here, and he had just taken out a bounty in this area, as he is also a bounty hunter, so he decided to visit him. This will be the first time I will meet one of Blood-sans students."

"Do you know how many students he has had so far?"

"I'm not really sure. He's never told me before. And I was always to shy to ask."

"Did he tell you anything about this one?"

"Yes, his name is Zephyr Rai. Right now he should be 38. Blood also said he is arrogant, stubborn, annoying, childish, idiotic, ill-tempered, impatient…" Tory proceeded to spit out a long list of insults from his master.

"Wow, he must have been one heck of a man." I commented.

"I bet he is." he agreed.

"So where did you guys leave your 'luggage'?"

"We were in a weapons shop and Blood happened to also be friends with the owner, so he entrusted him to guard his bags while we beat up those pirates."

"There's only one weapon shop that close to the towns square, so…Blood is friends with Kumiko?"

"Uh-huh, though I have no idea how the two met."

"How long are you guys planning on staying?"

"I don't know. That's up to Blood."

"How did you meet him and become his apprentice?" it seems I shouldn't have said that, because he looked sadly downwards and brought his knees to his chin.

"I, my entire village was killed by pirates. I would've died, too, if he had not saved me. And I had no place to go, since I have no living relatives, other than my older sister who I haven't seen for years and an uncle who was a Vice-Admiral and had made it clear a long while ago that at no time in the future could he take care of me or my sister, so he took me in and trained me."

"Oh. I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories for you."

"It's okay."

"Really, are you sure?"

"Don't worry about it. You didn't know about my past, and how could you have known?"

"Good point. So tell me about yourself."

"Okay. So let's see…I was abandoned as a baby, and I was constantly sent to different orphanages on different islands. After a while, I got sick of it and stowed away on a ship, then ended up here and started stealing. But that stopped three years ago when Kristine, the owner of this inn, beat the heck out of me then took me in. So now I live here, and when I'm not training or trying to join the Marines _or_ challenging some pirates, I run errands for some of the employees here and sometimes some guests."

"Interesting life story you've got."

"Thank you and why is Blood called Blood?

"That's one of the other things I don't know about him."

"He's pretty mysterious, isn't he?"

"Yep, he is."

"How old are you, Tory?"

"Nine."

"I'm twelve."

"You know, you said your name is Regan Zurich, but if you have no parents…"

"Zurich is Kristine's last name, but I'm not legally her adoptive son. But she really wants to adopt me."

"Why can't she adopt you?"

"She has to pay off a debt to some officials, and they won't let her adopt me until it's paid."

"That's awfully mean of them."

"Actually, they're pretty nice, since normally I would have to be taken away and put in an orphanage. It took an awful lot of compromising to let me stay"

"That totally changes my view of them."

"Yeah, they're good people."

"What do you plan on doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"If it's n-not too p-personal, I have to ask: what do you plan to do after all this?" Tory gestured to my room.

"Well, I want to become a Marine."

"Do you want to be held under their rules, forced to obey orders that aren't very nice all the time?"

"They aren't like that!" I defended. Why was he suddenly talking like this about the Marines? This was nothing like his former behavior. We were stopped from an argument by a knock on my door.

"I'm back!" chimed Blood. Hurriedly I rushed to the door and opened it. Blood had come back, only carrying two heavy-looking bags.

"Hello, sensei." said Tory as he marched to his masters side.

"Thanks again for watching him." Blood chided. As they went back to their room, Tory gave me a glance and mouthed 'think twice about your choice'. I glared at the doorway for a minute before barely holding myself back from slamming the door. Afterwards I stalked to my desk, pulled out my toothbrush, cup, and toothpaste, and then opened the door and headed down the hall to Kristine's room. Knocking twice, the door was opened without Kristine even checking who it was. I was one of the only people who knocked on her door at this hour. Kristine was a fairly tall woman with curly red hair, strangely gold eyes, and slightly tanned. She peered down at me as I stalked to where her bathroom was. It was small with a shower, a toilet, and a sink and mirror. While I brushed my teeth, Kristine watched me while leaning against the doorframe.

"What's got your feathers ruffled up?" she asked.

"It's nothing." I grumbled through a mouthful of toothpaste foam.

"I can tell when somebody's isn't happy, and you're basically radiating frustration." I sighed, rinsed then turned to her.

"Somebody questioned my choice of wanting to be a Marine." I told her.

"Here's my advice, squirt. It don't matter what others think as long as you're satisfied, now good night and sleep tight." Kristine concluded and stood next to me, and placed a kiss on my head. I may not be her son, but she loved me like one.

"Good night. You know, can I sleep with you tonight?" I pleaded.

"Sure."


	17. Chapter 17

**ichigo1508: You really think so?**

**Chapter 17, Tory**

_Why did I say that?_ I thought to myself. For some reason when the topic about Marines came up, something inside me changed for a moment. Maybe I should talk to Blood about this. When we stepped inside our room, I rummaged through my bag, pulling out what I needed to brush my teeth. The room had one large bed, a small bathroom, a lamp on a small table next to the bed, a desk, and a plush chair. I also got out my foldable step stool from my bag, as I was short for my age and had a bit of trouble reaching the sink. The time I complained to Blood about it, he just laughed and said I was a 'late-bloomer'. I hope that's the case, because I don't want to be this height for much longer.

As I brushed, Blood unpacked some of our items from the bags he had retrieved. We left them at his friends weapon shop since we were there looking for a new sword for me. The one I got was tied to my waist, as a swordsman never leaves his swords out of his sight, along with my old one. After rinsing, I went back to the room to find Blood waiting for me, sitting on the chair, arms crossed. That couldn't be good.

"Sensei, what's the matter?" I asked, even though I probably already knew the answer.

"Did you say something to that boy?" he said.

"Yes, sensei, please forgive me. When this topic came up, I just, say, couldn't stop myself. I don't know why I said what I said." I replied to Blood.

"You are forgiven, but tell me about what you said."

"Well, Regan said he wanted to be a Marine, and then I questioned him about it and said the Marines weren't exactly what they seemed to be. Something inside me stirred."

"Hmm, well if that's the case, let's just have a Cleansing of the Soul session!"

"W-wait, there's no need for that! Really, I'm just fine!" I babbled frantically. A Cleansing of the Soul session is pleasant at first, but later they you instantly changed your mind. I had to have one when I first became his student, so trust me, I know.

"Stop speaking nonsense, one should never push off one of these sessions! We'll start it tomorrow. Visiting my former student can wait until after your mind is clear of dark entities. For now, you sleep."

"Yes, sensei." I sighed and climbed into bed. Hearing him turn on the water in the shower, I snuggled deeper under the covers. Eventually after a while, I fell asleep. What I saw as I woke up was Blood leaning over me, grinning mischievously, and I sighed again. The session started with a hot bath, then an ice-cold one, and after that you had to have needles stuck in your body, and after _that _hot stones were put on your back. Once that was finished you had to be attacked by a squirrel or any small, furry animal, and finally an extremely bitter tea was to be digested. Blood always carried the leaves for the tea in a pouch. As Blood ran the first bath, I took a peek outside to see if Regan was anywhere outside so I could apologize. And there he was, coming down the right hallway. When Regan saw me, he glared threatenly at me. Cautiously I stepped out of the room and gestured for him to stop.

"What do you want?" he hissed at me, and I barely held myself back from running back inside.

"I just wanted to say sorry for last night." I squeaked. His eyebrows went up at my response, and for a second I thought he wouldn't forgive me, but that would serve me right.

"Apology accepted." Regan said, and smiled at me, something I didn't expect him to do. Slowly I bowed and headed back through the door, just as Blood had finished running the bath and stepped out of the bathroom.

"I apologized, so can I-." I began.

"No, you can't. Even though you have been forgiven any trace of the thought must be purified." Blood interrupted. And so began my trial of pain.

Regan

Feeling quite giddy after Tory's apology, I skipped back to my room and to the dresser, and pulled out a white cotton shirt, boxers, and some knee-length jeans. Once changed, I headed to the first floor. Normally I get my meals from the kitchen, and that's where I was headed now. The head chef happened to be Kristine's cousin, so after being properly introduced, we were also very good friends. The chefs' name was Katherine, though everybody called her Kat, and looked like Kristine except she had blond hair and was shorter.

"Morning, Regan, your breakfast will be ready in a moment!" Kat called to me from across the noisy kitchen. She set down the pan she was holding and retrieved a paper bag from a high shelf. As she did, she was having some trouble so I decided to surprise her. I headed into a nearby closet, changed into water, and then turned slipped under the door resembling a snake, only completely clear. I slithered under tables and between people's feet, until I had gotten to where Kat stood. I changed back, startling a few other chefs whom didn't give me away, and when the head chef turned around, I was disappointed to find her not surprised in the slightest.

"Here you go, Regan, and you should expect me not to be surprised by your antics." she said as I took the bag containing my breakfast. I was never given food from her on plates as sometimes my hands would turn to water by accident and thus I would drop the plate and break it. "Now don't you be getting into any trouble, you hear me?" she reminded.

"Yes, Kat, I hear you clearly." I replied and dodged employees darting back and forth across my path. It took me 5 minutes to get to the door. How could this place be so busy in the morning? Then again this was one of the most popular inns around the surrounding islands. Exiting the building, first I headed to the dock to see if there were any new pirates docking here. Indeed, two ships bearing Jolly Rogers I had not seen yesterday had stopped at our island. I also took in that the Sun Bear Pirates ship was nowhere to be seen. Either some of the crew had gotten back to it and left, it had been stolen, or it was taken by the bounty hunters office. Ones taken by the office were often taken apart and sold. Memorizing the Jolly Rogers I headed to the office to inspect wanted posters, but I never made it there as I noticed a group wearing cowboy themed clothes. There were five people, two of which were females. The man who I supposed was the leader, by the way the others listened to him as he talked, had bright red hair and wore a ten-gallon cowboy hat.

"…Heard he's on this island, along with his former master, who just happens to be _the _Blood!" I overheard one of the two women say to the red-haired man.

"We should leave as soon as possible," joined somebody else, this time one of the men.

"Hey, no need to panic! Blood's mostly known as a swordsman, not a bounty hunter. The newspapers say he only attacks if you provoke him. I'd like to meet him in person, and see if my skills are better than his swordsmanship," calmed the leader. This only made his group angrier.

"What are you saying, Elson? Blood is one of the most skilled swordsmen ever! He's almost as good as Mihawk," squawked the same woman. Wait a minute, Elson? I've seen that name before, but where was it? Now I remember, Elson 'Ranger' Omani, bounty of 29,000,000 Beri. I could probably take him on, considering that even if he had a higher bounty than Chui, there was less people with him. But what if there were other crewmembers around? I'd have to chance it, since you didn't get a chance like this everyday.

I slinked into an alleyway and jumped up onto the roof of a building. Crawling my way to the edge, I was several feet above my targets. First I took in their weapons. All of them had at least two guns, along with a few daggers, swords, and whips. As long as none of them had any sea stone, I couldn't be hurt. I jumped down with my dagger pointed at Elson. None of them seemed to react as I stabbed the man in the shoulder. I turned to them, and asked,

"Aren't you guys mad that I just stabbed your captain?"

"Look behind you," giggled the other woman of the two. I frowned, thinking it was a trick, but my curiosity got the better of me and I peered over my shoulder, and gasped. The body of Elson disappeared into smoke, and all that was left was my dagger. There wasn't even any blood.

"Did you really think I could get stabbed that easily?" somebody called, only they sounded exactly like whom I thought was Elson. Looking back at the group, Elson had joined them.

"H-how?" I stammered.

"I ate the Clone-Clone Fruit. It allows me to create clones of myself and other people," Elson explained, "Allow me to demonstrate the able ness of my power." Suddenly there were five other copies of him. All six Elson's scattered and shot at the same time. Now it was his turn to be amazed as they all passed through my body, eliminating three of the clones in the process.

"My Devil Fruit is the Aqua-Aqua Fruit. The name speaks for itself," I announced proudly.

"I wouldn't expect a kid like you to have a logia type Devil Fruit," Elson commented.

"You never know what to expect in the Grand Line," I retorted.

"You're right about that." he replied. My opponent snapped his fingers and I fell to the ground as somebody slashed my back with their blade. As I lay there, I could fell the wound on my back bleeding heavily. My energy was also depleted, which meant I was once again in the presence of sea stone. Looking up Elson had his gun pointed directly at my head. The next moment he was lying injured on the ground, with the rest of his crew in the same state. His clones disintegrated into smoke when Elson fainted. I didn't even need to look to know who it was.

"We better not have to save you again after this, Regan," warned Blood. Tory walked in front of me and helped me stand up, and he was nearly knocked down as I wobbled and fell forward. "You better have that cut looked at," I was advised.

"Sorry for troubling you with me having to be rescued all the time." I croaked.

"I-it's nothing," whispered Tory, "This is nothing compared to what I've been through with my sensei."

"You know, since this is starting to get tiring, why don't I train you so you won't need help?" Blood suggested.

"Are you sure?" Tory and I asked at the same time. We looked at each other and laughed.

"Yes I'm sure. We're going to stay here for a few weeks, but first…" he paused and rushed at me. Tory yelped and accidentally let go of me. So I launched my best attack at Blood.

"**Orb of Death!**" I cried. Changing my entire body, I started to form a sphere, but Blood cut through my water and passed through the opening at a blinding speed. For a moment after changing back, I just stared, and then turned to Blood.

"Yep, you're going to need some work."

_~End Flashback~_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18, Regan**

Unfortunately, the moment I took to remember the flashback, I let myself open, so Ace delivered a huge plume of fire that dissolved most of my water body. Barely recovering in time, I blasted him with water with my own attack, leaving him drenched and unable to call on his fire. At least, that's what I supposed. He surprised me when my water simply evaporated and he leaped at me. I just dodged to the side, and hit him in the back with a high-speed water spike, piercing his back. It lost its shape and fell to the ground, but Ace hadn't lost any of his spirit.

"You're going to have to do better than that to beat-," I said. My last words were cut off as he hit me in the face with his fist turned into fire. I cringed as parts of my face evaporated, and painfully reformed them. Normally I couldn't be hurt, but I still felt pain when any of my water was evaporated. I stumbled forward, more from pain, when he hit me in the back. This was bad; I was exposing my only weakness other than sea stone. This fight had gone on long enough. Turning to face Ace, I created dozens of high-speed water blades. Even if he used his fire, there was no way he would completely avoid my blades. Satisfyingly I watched several cuts appear on his body. But still he was not discouraged from fighting, that I could see in his eyes. The newspapers he wasn't one to back down, but to this extent?

"Why don't you give up?" I demanded.

"If I don't win, my crewmates will never wake up," Ace answered. He actually believed that when Coy said it? It was just a bluff #0 told us to tell them in order to convince the Whitebeard Pirates to fight. I wanted to tell him but the boss would kill me. I shuddered at the thought of him. The mention of him still sent shivers down my spine.

"Not my problem," I said, and proceeded to create a larger sphere between my hands. I forced the water to move around in the sphere so fast my liquid hands started to heat up. When it was almost too much for me to contain it I threw it at Ace, but he was no longer there. The grass where my sphere landed was instantly shredded, and dirt flew before my sphere broke down. Where could he be? If he wasn't around me then…I looked up just in time to see a boot covered in flames kick me in the face, the pain almost unbearable, but I could not scream since his heel was pressed against my face. Not the most pleasant feeling ever. I crashed down onto the ground on my back, breathing heavily as my face was reconstructed, steam rising into the air. For a minute I waited for the finishing blow, but it never came.

"I'm not going to kill you, if that's what you're thinking. Does this mean that I won?" he asked. I simply nodded and he sauntered off. I watched him leave, and then sighed while facing the sky. Then I remembered what he had been told about his friends, and called out after him.

"One thing, when Coy told you about the drug, he was just bluffing! He was told to say that by #0!"

"Thanks for telling me!" I heard from somewhere in the distance. I sighed and put my head back on the ground. I'd better get a move on soon if I didn't want to get killed by the boss. Painfully I got up, as some of my injuries had not completely been formed, and headed off in a direction opposite Ace' path. Even though there was no way #0 could know about my loss, I felt like someone was watching me. Nervously I kept looking around.

"Did you really think you could get away with this?" somebody whispered into my ear from behind, and I didn't even have enough time to scream as everything went black.

Tami

Once some of the commanders had left, along with their opponents, one of the remaining Bounties said that the Commanders couldn't join in on the fight versus the former Marines. After that the fight started. I kept a close eye on Ilea and she was having trouble with fighting. Kola had been commanded to stay below deck, and reluctantly he left, in case he accidentally lost control. It didn't look like madness would be helpful in this situation.

Ever since Kola had been defeated, he had managed to keep his sanity most of the time. During the time I saw him around the ship, his real personality began to show, and he actually turned out to be rather childish. He whined when required to do work, pouted if things didn't go his way, and constantly tried to play pranks, most of which failed. But he was funny and kind. After some discussion we decided that when we got to the next town, Ilea, he, and I would settle down once we had a permanent home. He wanted to keep traveling, but in the end he relented and agreed to come with us so I could help keep his sanity in check. It could be disastrous if he lost control. That was how he formed the Black Water Pirates in the first place. I only joined so I could stop him, but that meant I had to pretend I was insane, too. In the end, it had to be my younger brother to defeat him for me.

In truth, I had quite missed him and was overjoyed when I saw him at Water 7. I regretted that I shot him, but I had no choice. I had to convince him I was the enemy so that he wouldn't blow my cover. Right now I was even reconsidering my decision to leave. I didn't want to be separated from him, but who was going watch Ilea and Kola? Both of them weren't ready to go back to the pirate life. Oh, well, I could decide later, after we beat the crap out of these guys. Most of them were shady-looking characters, and I shot down the first five men in sight with a look of disgust. The Commanders watched us from on the deck, quite annoyed that they were not allowed to help.

"Ilea!" I shouted as I ran towards her. I jumped, and I went higher as I pushed off Ilea' hands. As I started to fall, I tilted my body downward and took out my guns, shooting any enemy unfortunate enough to be in my sight. Then, as I landed on my feet, I stumbled forward as I was hit sharply on the head. Putting a hand on the back of my head where it was bleeding, I shot my attacker without turning around.

"Tami, are you alright?" asked Ilea as she came bounding up next to me.

"Yeah, don't let your guard down. Just use your bubble film." I answered. She quickly produced a small blue bubble, than placed it on the back of my head to stop the bleeding and protect my wound from further damage. This was one of the skills we worked on while we were in the ships infirmary. After that she disappeared into the crowd of ex-Marines and pirates, though I could hear her explosion bubbles. First I waited a risky moment for the bubble to flatten, and then proceeded to mow down Marine after Marine. But after a while, I ran out of ammunition, but that was expected, so now I had to resort to hand-to-hand combat. This I had to teach myself, as my master was mostly skilled with guns. It only took 3 years, lots of bloody noses, and several broken bones before I mastered my special technique.

Bringing up my leg, I kicked the man in front of me in the jaw so hard, he left the ground for a few seconds, before falling backward. A huge, muscular tried to attack me from behind, but I turned around and performed my special technique. Moving insanely fast, my hands worked quickly and hit all of the nerves in his chest. His jaw went slack and he limply stood, threatening to fall over, so I flicked him in the forehead, and he went like a sack of potatoes. Swinging me leg up and out, I kicked another enemy in the neck, cutting off his air and throwing him into his comrades. I continued to use this technique when I heard Ilea cry out. Frantically I looked around and spotted her lying on the ground, a sword raised above her heart.

"No!" I cried and ran forward, scooping up Ilea and receiving a cut to my shoulder. I paid it no mind and kicked the man in the gut, sending him flying backward. I had to end this fight someway, but how? And a plan came to mind, but I'd have to get to the bottom of the ship, along with the other ones. Also, I needed Ilea' help, though I hated to have her use her Devil Fruit in her condition. First, a shortcut to the bottom. That was the easy part, simply kick a guy through all the floorboards, which I did. At the bottom I sat Ilea down on her feet, but she looked terribly weak. How could she have been defeated in battle so easily?

"Listen Ilea, I need you to try a timed explosion bubble. Do you think you can do it?" I asked her. She just nodded and began on her bubble.

"Hey Tami, can you tell me how we first met again?" she asked suddenly. This wasn't really the best time or place to talk, and I had told her before in the past, but I just couldn't turn down her request.

"Sure, now let's see…It was a normal day for everybody else in Alabasta, but nowhere close to normal for me. It was my birthday that fateful day, so I decided to get myself a little something but instead I got a bigger surprise. I ended up getting a person!" I began. Ilea giggled at the last part. "While I was looking some pretty fine amulets, I hear some shouting and turn to find you carrying some bread and being chased by two guards. At first I tried to look away and mind my own business, but my conscious got the better of me and I ended up helping you escape by hiding you under my cloak and rushing into an alleyway, not without of its share fair of suspicion from the masses. After the guards had past, I asked you where your parents were and who you were, and what did you say?"

"I haven't got any and my names Ilea." she answered.

"Yep, and you've got a pretty good memory to remember. Anyway, when I heard that I couldn't just leave you there, so I ended up taking you in. Then later I found out you had some trouble with the royal family since you stole some of the royal treasury! Those made me wonder if you steal all this stuff then why you aren't living any better. Than while we were in town looking for information, I get attacked by this boy with black hair and a punk-style outfit. What was his name?"

"Scorpio and his organization name was Spite. He was also my former partner when I used to be called Despair."

"Uh-huh, and without any warning he sprouts a scorpion tails from his bottom and scorpion legs from the sides of his stomach, though I don't know why from there, and he tries to kill us. Then _you_ surprised me when you used his power on him. I wonder how he's doing now."

"Well, we left him with the royal family to take care of him, so he should be fine."

"He should, but I read somewhere about him joining the Marines and quickly becoming more recognized. Maybe we'll run into him again."

"The bubble is done." Ilea informed.

"Great, now we just have to get out of here and set the other ships, then this fight will be over once they blow, but we'll have to hurry."

"'Kay." she replied and quickly I tucked her under my arm.

"Now do one of your regular bubbles so we can float back to the deck." I commanded. She did as told and formed a perfectly clear bubble the size of a beach ball. To anyone else it may look like nothing special at first, but this was one of her special bubbles. No matter what it could never break or dissolve, and if you want it can be shaped any way you want. The only way to get rid of it was to melt it with fire. Also, it could float up as long as its load was less than 200 pounds. You don't want to know how we found out the limit. She mashed the bottom of the bubble into a handle shape. And soon we were rising, but painfully slow.

"Oh, what the heck." I said, brought out my dagger and stabbed the bottom. One thing I forgot to tell you, if the bubble had not been formed you could puncher it. Instantly out speed increased and once we were at the top, I released it and the bubble-balloon flew crazily around, knocking over several men before stopping and resting on the floor, deflated. After recovering from the shock of the landing I looked around and if I saw my face right now, it would be an expression of utter shock. All around me both the former Marines and my crewmates were dead, dying, or injured to the point of being unable to fight. What had happened while I was below deck? My question was answered as I saw the remaining Bounties who had not left lined up along the side of their ship, some carrying blood-covered weapons and others trying to catch their breath. I may be powerful, but this battle was hopeless if the Commanders could not help.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19-1, Tory**

I ran full tilt to where the ship was, and I abruptly stopped, staring at the scene before me. I also accidentally dropped Coy, so he kept hitting me with his fists, though I took no notice. Even from this distance it was easy all my crewmates lying among the ships, dead or injured. I couldn't tell which. Coy was interrupting my thoughts, so before I continued onward me simply karate-chopped his head and left him there rubbing the bump on his head.

If both sides were down that must mean the Bounties did this! But how did they even reach the ships? The Hundred Bounty was still docked here at the islands shore. Well, you have to expect the unexpected from bounty hunters, especially these guys. The remaining ones were all up on the deck, facing away from me so I couldn't see any of their faces. Wait, I recognize that girl with the black hair. And there was the man in the wheelchair, so…The other Commanders had been defeated! If they had, then there was nearly no way we could win.

"Guys, what's going on? Why are the Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines both defeated?" called Coy who had caught up to me. Most of the Bounties turned around except for the man in the wheelchair and a girl with dirty blonde hair.

"Oh Coy, we forgot t-to tell you, the p-plan was to completely obliterate the Whitebeard P-pirates, regardless of c-casualties. #0 is g-going to finish the j-job once he k-kills Whitebeard himself," stammered Gabion.

"Why wasn't I told?" Coy wailed. Wow, he must get really distressed if he doesn't know what's going on.

"Because we thought you would bail out on us, and we couldn't let that happen," said Black Hair.

"Yeah right I would, Evangeline! And so would Brianna, right Brianna?" he asked.

"Pshaw, what are you talking about? Brianna B. Bunny has always been a loyal member-," Evangeline began until she was cut off and sent flying by a kick from 'said' comrade. A lady with light blond hair shot a hurtful look at Brianna, but I could see it was only half-hearted with my sharp eyes, further enhanced by my Devil Fruit. Why had I not noticed I could see better before?

"What are you doing Bea?" she asked.

"Doing what's right. Do you know how ashamed I am in myself for injuring those men just to keep my secret until now, Ida?" Brianna retorted.

"You're a bounty hunter; we aren't supposed to think about the people we kill," Ida shot back.

"Not anymore I am!" the brave girl growled. I thought Ida would continue to try to persuade her comrade back into allegiance, but instead she just sighed and pulled out a fan from her belt. In a movement so slight she literally cut the air, but it was not aimed at Brianna. It was heading right for Coy! Impulsively I tackled him out of the way, the slice not-so-harmlessly cutting the thick tree trunk behind us straight through the middle. I covered Coy with my body as the trunk fell down right next to us, dirt and wood fragments flying through the air. Somehow I didn't get hit at all, just like in my fight with Coy.

"Coy!" Bea cried. Several of her former teammates tried to stop her, but she moved to fast for them to even touch her, so in a moment she was squatting down next to me. I sat up with Coy in my lap, until he squirmed away from me and stood up.

"Why do you worry so much?" Coy asked Brianna.

"I'm not worried about _you_; I'm worried that I'll lose my precious punching bag," Brianna snided.

"W-what did you say?" Coy snapped and they broke into a heated argument. The anger kept building inside of me and I let it all out.

"Guys, guys, can you kill each other _after_ we're done dealing with the rest of the Bounties?" I yelled. For a moment they looked at me in shock, and then crossed their arms, turned away from each other and muttered, 'fine'. "Good, now let's bet the crap out of these guys." I concluded and we all looked at the smirking Bounties with determined faces.

"You're going to beat the crap out of whom now?" asked Evangeline.

"You heard me, or is all that hair clogging up your ears?" Bea snarled. This remark seemed to make Evangeline very mad, by the way she clenched her teeth and fists and her hair rose up, sharpening into sword shapes.

"That cannot be good," I said.

"Don't worry; she's always like this back at our base. We always beat her, but it's the other Bounties I'm worried about. There are only three of us," Coy scowled.

"How about we play this fair and have three of us fight you, one-on-one?" suggested Ida.

"No need for that, because they will all be dead soon," said a threatening voice. Suddenly all the Bounties froze and watched the man which had come out from the ships cabin. All of them, excluding Gabion who was now nervous times two, and the wheelchair man, lost their confident demeanor and wore masks of fear.

"Regan!" shouted Coy and Bea. The mystery man covered in a cloak was dragging a younger man whom I recognized from earlier. Regan' body was covered in blood, cuts, and bruises. All the Bounties turned away from the sight and none rushed to help him.

"What did you do, #0!" demanded Bea.

"He betrayed all of us by telling that Ace the truth about the drug, so he suffered the penalty. He should be glad I didn't kill him and you should be glad, too, Coy," 0 sneered. I hated the way his voice sounded. I didn't know Regan at all, but if he was Coy and Bea' friend, then he was my friend, too.

"You're going to pay," I hissed as I changed into my hybrid form.

"And who are you? Wait, now I remember you. You were a candidate to join us, once. Back then I thought it was such a shame to lose such a fine fellow, but now that I see you now I don't regret the decision at all," #0 continued in his calm but icy voice.

"I'll make you regret taunting me and for everything," I said.

"Fine, if we must fight, wait for me to kill Whitebeard first and then you can battle to your hearts content," 0 yawned.

"No way are you touching him!" I shouted. This amused him, shown by the way his lips curled into a devious smile. "Okaay, that sounded wrong but you aren't going to get close to him, #0!" 0 raised his hand and all of a sudden I felt considerably weaker and fell to my knees. This weird green energy came from my body and was sucked into his palm.

"Yum, this is my power, the Drain-Drain Fruit. It allows me to steal someone else's life force and add it to my own. This is why I am unbeatable. And please, call me Damon, but what's the point of that if you're going to die right now!" announced Damon. Once again the green energy came out of me but before it got very far, a large tidal wave hit him, nearly knocking him off the boat, and he clung on to the railing by one hand. Ida had to pull him up.

"Who do you think you are, trying to kill one of my sons?" boomed someone who I was very familiar with.

"Pops, you're here!" I rasped. By now I was so weak I could barely stay awake, but nonetheless I stood up, supported by Bea and Coy. The Moby Dick had silently crept back to the island, and all the Commanders were there, and Ace, Marco, Jozu, and Thatch had suddenly appeared near us. So they hadn't been defeated after all.

"I would have expected you to run away like the coward you are," Damon mocked.

"And abandon my sons? And who are you calling a coward, when you are the one that hides beneath a cloak," Whitebeard retorted. In response Damon shed said cloak and revealed his true appearance, and he actually didn't look half bad. He had black hair with red highlights, brown eyes, and pale skin. He wore a black long-sleeve sweater and khaki pants, and the belt had an array of weapons attached.

"How about we make a deal? We fight by ourselves, and no matter the outcome both sides will be allowed to leave without any hassle, no matter the outcome,"

"Very well," Whitebeard agreed. He jumped down from the ship onto the sandy ground, the force of the air nearly knocking me down if not for Coy and Bea.

"Bring Tory onto my ship. Guys, get out of here." he commanded. Bea and Coy gritted their teeth at being told what to do, but all three of us reluctantly boarded the Moby Dick by jumping.

"But Pops!" argued one of the Commanders.

"Enough! I won't die in this fight, you know that," countered Whitebeard and the man didn't say another word. Soon we had sailed a distance away, as did the Bounties, but both of us stayed close enough to watch the fight. Before Damon raised his hand Whitebeard brought his weapon down where he stood, but quick as lightning he jumped out of the way and ran up the handle, kicked Whitebeard hard in the head and jumping back out of the pole arms reach. Once again he tried his draining attack but he had to keep jumping to avoid the blade. During all of this I wondered where McKinley was, and somehow I saw him hiding in the shadows of the trees surrounding the shore, behind where Pops was standing.

"Watch out!" I shouted. I don't know where I got the strength to get my voice that loud. I barely warned him in time as a torrent of powerful wind threw uprooted a large tree and it was flung at Pops. Whitebeard stuck it down, and went for another blow at Damon. Even with two people attacking at the same time, it didn't appear like he was having trouble. That is, until the winds of McKinley made a sharp cut on his forearm. How was he going to keep up? Of course I shouldn't doubt him, but still I was worried.

"Hey someone, fill in for me and Coy," Bea barked ferociously and Marco took over their positions. I watched them curiously and Coy formed a spring with one of his remaining tattoos, and it was too late for me warn them a Bea launched herself to the island. Fortunately she landed safely and with plenty of land to spare.

"What are you doing?" I croaked. Coy grinned at me as he answered,

"Why, we're helping Whitebeard of course." black wings resembling a bats sprouted from his back, and, pushing off of the ships railing, he flew after Bea, which had taken up fighting McKinley, and once Coy landed, together they started taking down the former Marine.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20, Bea**

Okay, why was I helping this guy in the first place? Just an impulse, I suppose. So here I am, fighting 'Wind Master' McKinley. And what was he decommissioned for, you are maybe wondering? Well, from what I've heard, which isn't very much despite my connections, he was getting quite brutal; even beat up a fellow Marine. His fleet was quite loyal to him, so when McKinley was forced to leave, they went with him. How did I know this? Well, my brother is in McKinley' fleet, so I get all the inside information. McKinley isn't really on my good side, or my other siblings besides my brother.

Apparently he killed mums sister, who happened to be a famous pirate, so all of us have a grudge against him. That's why brother joined his fleet, so we could wait for the perfect chance to get our revenge without getting in trouble with the Marines. I left home at an early age to learn self-defense, and I ended up getting good enough to join the Bounties. Heck lot of good they are, I didn't even know they existed until they invited me to join! But after seeing them heartlessly take out the former Marines, including my _brother_, I couldn't take it so I rebelled.

So once again, here I am with my best friend Coy next to me. When I first joined the Bounties, he was mad I was in a higher position then him, so he challenged me to see if I was 'worthy of the position', but I think he was just jealous. Of course I beat him up, but I have to admit he put up a pretty good fight. And our friendship/rivalry started from that day on. Now enough with the remembering, let's get back to beating this guy up.

Though my family had a big grudge against McKinley, I've never met him in person. Actually, according to the newspapers, nearly nobody has seen his face before! That's why there are so many rumors about him. Even back when he visited our island, he had covered up his face, and his voice mad him sound around his 50's or something. Only here we are, face-to-face, and turns out he's rather not that old, around his late 20' or early 30'. Course it was hard to focus while dodging his wind attacks, but one thing that was obvious to see was that he had _grey_ hair. Well, really a mixture of white, light grey and dark grey, if you want to be more specific. And his eyes, well, they're kind of hard to describe so I won't.

He was holding up pretty well, even with Coy and I fighting him at the same time. I saw an opening and launched one of my hardest kicks into his stomach. He skidded back several feet, but his stance stayed solid. Jumping back, McKinley smirked at me, which ticked me off quite bit, and as I sensed the winds change again, I barely dodged a ball of compressed air. The ball chopped off a bit of my hair and hit the tree behind me, forcing against the trunk and splitting the tree from its base. Wow, this is definitely not good for the plant life, but who cares. Plants can be reborn, people can't.

The wind got even fiercer, and it stung my eyes. I was forced to keep dodging as branches and rocks were lifted, being thrown everywhere. I clenched my teeth as a rock hit me in the back. At this rate, we could be defeated. How was Coy even doing? Oh, there he with McKinley trying to choke him. Wait. MCKINLEY IS TRYING TO CHOKE HIM! I switched to my half/rabbit form and, using my enhanced speed, succeeding in hitting his shoulder, the force knocking him to the side and releasing his grip around Coy' throat. I waited a moment for him to catch his breath, constantly glancing at McKinley in case he recovered faster than I expected.

"Guess. I. Owe you one now," Coy panted.

"You darn right you do!" I replied, crossing my arms in triumph.

"Bea, watch out!" he cried, and I had a moment of shock as he pushed me away, being stabbed by McKinley' hidden dagger when it should have been me in his place.

"Coy!" I called, rushing to my partners' side. By the way, I do NOT, repeat do NOT have any feelings for him. Who am I even talking to? I flipped him onto his back, and a crimson stain was forming on his vest. Okay, that was the last straw. Kill the aunt I never met, I can deal with that; but hurt my best friend; you are so going to die.

"DIE!" I shouted. I didn't want to use my 'Rage' karate, but I had no choice. 'Rage' karate was one of my specially developed techniques, where you use unrestrained power on your opponents' vital points, ensuring in the loss of their life. Really I did have a choice, but this guys already on my bad side, so who cares what happens to him? First, wait for the perfect moment.

"Aren't you going to run? How about this, I'll let you leave with your boyfriend there if you abandon helping Whitebeard?" McKinley tempted.

"No way, and he is NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" I snapped and hit him in the chest with my palm. Then bending down three of my fingers on both hands, I stabbed all of his vital points. Powered by my Zoan Devil Fruit, I easily beat him that way, and he fell to the ground after I had finished my assault. "Take that McKinley!"

"I wish you would've called me Kane," he said, and with that he was dead. Now why did that name sound familiar?

"Um, I'm bleeding to death over here! Are you going to leave me here or what?" Coy complained.

"You know with all you're whining I just might leave you here," I hissed.

"Please, please don't!" he pleaded. Rolling my eyes, I hoisted him over my shoulder and pondered where to go. The ship was too far away, but I did have a packet of medical supplies with me, quite conveniently. So instead I put Coy back down and pulled out the bandages, and kept an eye on #0' fight. Not surprisingly, considering Whitebeard' strength, the battle was quickly finished and my former boss was unconscious and bleeding on the sand.

"Hey, so what are you going to do with him!" I asked Whitebeard. By now I had finished bandaging Coy' wounds so I had walked up to assess the results of the fight. Up close the man looked even taller, but I wasn't fazed as I had fought off giants before.

"You're his subordinate, are you not, brat? It's up to you and your buddies to decide his fate from now," he answered.

"One, I am no longer part of the Bounties, two, they already left," I said, gesturing to the ocean. They had left as soon things weren't looking very bright for #0. _Cowards_, I thought instantly.

"So what do plan on doing form here on?" he questioned.

"I guess Coy and me will either become pirates or continue bounty hunting, but the latter seems unlikely when the new that we helped you gets out, so I guess we'll go with choice A. Also, I'll be taking #0 with me. And could you let us stay on your ship until the next island?" I begged, giving him my puppy dog eyes look.

"Very well, but you must leave once we reach the next island," he decided.

"I know, jeez why does everybody think I'm a troublemaker?" I huffed, "Hold on, Obis still needs to give Tory back his life force. He took about 5 year' worth of that boy's life force and you do not want to miss out on life."

"Obis?"

"That's #0' real name, and don't ask me how I know,"

All of my belongings were back at the base, and would probably be burned, I didn't care that much. I was too amazed at how quickly this fight had been finished. The Whitebeard Pirates are truly an amazing crew, but I wasn't about to admit it anytime soon. Even though I had a grudge against McKinley, I mean Kane and his fleet, after the effects of the drug had worn off several of us went and buried the corpses. I thought it'd be improper and gross if we just left them to rot away, but it happened with some 'implied' encouragement. I had also discovered the Bounties had given Regan to the Whitebeard pirates, so he said he would come with me and Coy to set off life as a pirate. And another surprise, he had met Tory before! Now how about that?

Next Day

The next island happened to be extremely close, so close that I have no idea how we didn't notice it earlier. It was named Heike and was famous for the skill and strength of the people born there. It was also known for the Dacha fruit, and I was hoping to try it as it is supposed to enhance ones senses, though that's probably a myth.

After making sure Obis was tied up securely and the sea stone cuffs were in place, we had bid goodbye and went into town. As expected, the place was bustling with people. It was easy to seethe natives of the place from their brown skin and hair and their height. No wonder Heikians are popular as bodyguards, they're basically born for that field. I hope nobody from the Whitebeard Pirates get caught alone by the natives.

Tory

After that #0 guy gave me back my energy, I felt funny for some time and took a snooze. When I woke up the next day, I went to the deck with Thom and Mono to find some strange people who I had never seen before in my life looking as to kill someone.

"Heikians," stated Mono with a yawn.

"They look around my age. Are they all like this?" I asked him.

"No, most are pretty peaceful. Sometimes there are some boys looking to make a name for themselves. The natives are known to be born quite strong and are often hired as bodyguards," answered Thom.

"So what do we do?"

"Beat them up of course," replied Thatch. I spun around to find him standing right behind me. Though I pretended to be surprised, I had actually sensed him coming a few minutes ago.

"Aye-aye, Commander!" I mocked. I got cuffed in the head in response. Several swipes of a sword later, the remaining teenagers were fleeing for their lives, dragging fallen comrades. One man with black hair instead of the common brown stopped to yell at us.

"Just you wait! The Taurus Pirate captain, Jody Red is going to defeat you all!" he shouted defiantly. Then he scampered away after his long-gone crew.

"That kid might turn out to be strong pirate with a spirit like that," I commented.

"Anything can happen," said Thom.

"Now that I think about it, where's Leon?" I questioned, noticing his missing presence. I noticed a sheet of paper nailed to the railing, so I picked it up.

"What's that?" asked Mono.

"I don't know. Let's see...It says, 'Dear Whitebeard, you will not be seeing your precious crewmate Leon Kirk ever again. He is not dead, I assure you of that, but he has left of his own accord for reasons I cannot tell you. Do not follow him, as he has asked, or else the consequences could be disastrous for both sides. From, Jody Red," I choked out the last words. How could Leon leave?

"What does this mean?" demanded Mono.

"It means Leon left with this Jody guy," said Thom, trying to calm down Mono.

"POPS!" I yelled.


End file.
